Batman: Fading Smile
by HarlequinOfHate
Summary: After an attack at Arkham, Joker is left wounded and confused, haunting memories of a long forgotten past suddenly plaguing his already warped mind. Batman,desperately searching for the escaped clown,suddenly finds himself in a situation he never expected
1. Chapter 1

****

Chapter One

Part One, Old Times

Gotham. So many things to him registered something recognizable about it. Though none of them were good.

Every night brought out so many different criminals but all with the same crimes. Again and again lives were put on the line...not just theirs...but innocent's as well. And every night...he knew that he missed one...that someone died...and though others would deny it...he would always blame himself.

A scream echoed off of the rooftops surrounding him, his body stiffening as it reverberated back into his range. The white slots in his cowl narrowed, his body falling idly from the perch he'd been sitting in all night...just waiting.

Gotham's crimson red skies open up from above, releasing with it polluted droplets to cover a polluted city. Nature's poor attempt to wash away the filth that it's inhabitants so carelessly create...the filth they thrive in.

The smell of recently wet pavement caressed his nose as he landed in the street, a homeless man tensing up at the sheer sight of "The Batman."

"Come on lady, give me the damn money."

A young man, no older than 17, holds a knife on a woman twice his age, her wrinkled face twisted in a blinding terror.

Lunging at him, Batman easily removed the weapon from his already shaking fingertips, not even bothering to say anything to him as he cuffed him to a drainpipe. The police would find him in a few hours, in the meantime he'd know what it was like to be mugged.

****

P2

Robin sighed loudly, the prolonged night filled with nothing but a couple punks and a potential monster...to his complete dismay, it had turned out to be a dog.

He ran his gloved hands through his hair, feeling the first drops of the rain hitting his wrist.

"Great." He uttered, sitting motionless above the city, the thick clouds and now predictable rain storm dampening his mood even further.

****

P3

Joker laid on his back, watching his chest rise up and down, rhythmically blocking the horrific sight of Pamela mostly nude, and her somewhat plush new flower plant. Mentally he grumbled to himself about the fairness of her getting several privileges, but they wouldn't even let him take a paper clip out of the recreation room.

Snorting lightly, he thought of the many ways to kill an on call doctor with a paper clip.

"What're you looking at, Joker?"

Pamela glared at him, gently running her fingers over the pedals of her baby.

He sat up, smiling as pleasantly as possible,

"Just wondering how much sawing would be necessary to decapitate you with your rose's thorns."

Her retaliation is cut short by a guard scuffing his way over to them, his oversized waist severing any hope they had of catching a glimpse at each other. Scratching himself for a few minutes, the man eyes them both suspiciously, then continues on his way down the hallway of the insane.

Deep in the recesses of his mind, Joker thought of how he'd kill him.

****

Chapter 1

Part Two, Things Change

The sounds of her fingers hitting the keys drowned out the sound of her heart beating, small beads of perspiration collecting on her brow. She brushed her hair out of her face, adjusting her glasses before taking a deep breath. She didn't have much time.

"What are you playing?"

Dick leaned over her shoulder, his mask resting gently between his index finger and his thumb.

She X'd out the box, feeling a slight warmth build on the back of her neck and ears. She hated how good he was at sneaking up behind her,

"Oh, nothing. Just trying to kill some time."

He smiled, sitting partially up against her desk and folding his arms,

"No kidding. I don't think I've ever seen this city so quiet."

The water running down his suit dripped onto her papers, blurring the ink and ruining some of her research, "Do you mind?"

He paused, a flash from the window catching both their attention. The news had forecasted clear skies, and warm wind fronts for the duration of the evening. The water cascading down the rooftops of the blackened city presented no shock to either of them.

Dick half smiled, gesturing towards the computer screen,

"Let me play."

****

P2

"And you said..."

The guard stares at the young man around 23 fidgeting in front of him, utter mistrust stewing within his plump gut. This guy was up to something. No innocent sweats that much.

The man in the suit swallowed deeply, pulling an ID out of his jacket,

"I'm his lawyer."

He took the ID, examining it thoroughly...it looked real enough...

"Listen, I can't let you into the facility this late at night, even if you are his attorney. If you're who you said you are, then you'd know that."

He held up his finger in protest, trying desperately to plead his case.

"No, you don't understand. He's very particular. This was already approved by Doc-"

The security officer shook his head, standing up off of his stool to block the entrance to the prisoner's block.

"Sorry, mac. You'll just have to come back tomorrow."

While the two men argued, something buzzed beneath their feet, swerving around the metal detector and into the blackness...towards the cells.

****

P3

Joker giggled to himself, blowing hot air onto his glass and writing things for Pam to read.

She snorted in disgust, trying vainly to ignore his childish attempts to anger her. One of them was even detailed enough to show her head being severed from her naked body.

"You're sick."

She seethed.

He laughed, suggestively touching the steam drawn Pam with his finger before rubbing it away. He could do this all night.

He exhaled again, a fresh canvas laid out before him.

Just as he began to etch out Poison Ivy being eaten by one of her plants, his attention was diverted...a low buzzing echoing through the corridor.

"Shut up, JOKER!"

He raised his hands in front of his face,

"Not me, toots."

The toy zipped by them, Joker's face smashing against the pane to get a better look. What the hell was that?

A blinding light erupted from the hallway, flames and an ear shattering boom engulfing Arkham Asylum and all those inside.

****

Chapter 1

Part three, Lost

"Whoa!"

Oracle minimized the pinball game, a flashing red light in the corner of her screen interrupting her tedious process of beating Dick's score.

Dick, who'd been digging into her fridge while waiting for his turn, quickly was back by her side, finishing chewing the chinese food he'd stolen and reading over her shoulder.

"Arkham Asylum."

She nodded, her fingers insanely depressing multiple keys.

"I'm trying to figure out what happened...about a million alarms went off at once."

He went to touch one of her keyboards, but retracted instantly as his hand was smacked,

"You should check the police frequency."

She looked at him with a smirk, adjusting her glasses on her face,

"This isn't my first time, Grayson."

He smiled lightly, taking a step back to let her work,

"Sorry."

She accessed the police radio, the voice on the other end making her stomach knot.

The tone was unsteady, shaken by something they couldn't see.

"Oh god..."

"3589, please respond. Can you see anyone?"

The dispatcher sounded somewhat urgent at the officer's long pause.

Finally he answers,

"No, dispatch. The explosion knocked out half the building...we can't get to them."

In the background Barb and Dick could hear people screaming for help...some already dying.

****

P2

Joker opened one eye at a time, the massive amounts of pain coursing through his body overwhelming all other senses. He couldn't remember exactly what happened, but he...thought he saw a toy...

He moaned lightly, rolling over onto his back with a wince. Everything was spinning around him, the food in his stomach threatening to withdraw if the room didn't settle in one place.

Flames and smoke filled the hallway, but as he sat up he could still see Pam across the way, either unconscious or dead. He laughed to himself as he shoved himself up from the ground, the thought of her lifeless body laying there giving him quite a bit of amusement.

He looked around, taking in the damage surrounding him.

The roof had collapsed from above, clouds of black swirling out towards the sky as spouts of rain created a waterfall effect on the broken down rubble. Most of the plexiglass walls stopping the inmates from leaving were either broken, or completely gone, sharp bits of them scattered across the charred floor.

Padding himself down, he checked for any fatal hits.

His face was mildly cut up, and he was pretty sure he'd bruised his bottom two ribs, but all in all, he was no worse for wear. He grinned, thinking that maybe this wasn't so bad after all. This revolving door had been busted wide open.

Kicking his foot against an already practically shattered door, he cleared the way for his exit, getting halfway up the steepest part of the cave-in before looking back down to see...Harley.

He climbed carefully back to the floor, walking through a large burst in her cell glass.

"Harl?"

Rolling her over, he felt for her pulse. Unable to find it, he stood up, and sighed,

"Tough luck, Kiddo."

Without even so much as looking back at her, Joker began crawling up the failing structure again, almost making it to the top...

His fingers slipped, everything seemingly slowing down for him as he fell several feet from the ceiling to the ground. He tried to grab a hold of something...anything...but couldn't quite reach.

The back of his skull cracked onto the concrete, all he'd recall when he awoke would be a flash of white and red followed directly by ebony night.

****

P3

Batman watched the smoke billow out of the asylum, silently wondering to himself who was still alive inside of there...both innocent and insane.

Commissioner James Gordon approached him, running his thumb along the bridge of his nose while trying to find words to speak.

He instead pulled a cigarette out of his pocket, holding his hand over it to block the wind and rain as he lit it.

"The fire department's on the way."

His face remained emotionless...so many times...so many people dead. Could he have stopped this?

"What happened here, Jim?"

Jim shook his head, pushing the glasses back up onto his face,

"The door guard said no one had gone in or out all night except the doctors." He points his thumb towards the man wrapped in a green and torn blanket, shock setting in enough to already be creating bags under his eyes, and a white tone to his skin. "Said this clown was trying to get by when it happened. Wanted to visit his client."

Batman turned to the Commissioner, his cape wrapping completely around his body as another gust of wind tussled it about.

"Who's his client?"

Jim took another drag and sighed, exhaling smoke as he spoke,

"Joker."

****

Chapter 1

Part four, Blood Sucking

The grass stuck to all exposed parts of his skin, crimson streams of red falling down his face and dripping onto the dampened soil.

He moaned, touching the back of his head with his already mud caked fingers. Was that large bump there before? He couldn't seem to think clearly...

The flashing lights to his right faded in and out of darkness, a few hard blinks straightening out his blurred vision. The blobs of green, white, red and gray suddenly focused, a distant Batman standing sullenly next to Jim Gordon.

Shakily he pushed himself from the ground, let out a small giggle, and staggered towards the woods, catching a bit of his jumpsuit on a bush before diving out of sight.

****

P2

Batman concentrated on the woods for a few more seconds, convincing himself that what he saw must've been nothing more than a trick of the eye.

"Joker doesn't have a lawyer."

Jim shook his head, dropped the cigarette on the ground, then stepped on it.

"We haven't had the chance to-"

Batman was already walking away, zig zagging through the officers and firemen to get to the attorney. The short man jumped slightly as he turned to see the shadow standing behind him, two white eyes boring into his soul.

"Why were you here?"

He jittered about, clinging desperately to his blanket with his boney fingers,

"T-to see The Joker."

Batman stepped closer to him, hovering over his head like the storm that hung above the city.

"Why."

He swallowed deeply, running his hand nervously over his hair,

"I had an appointment...he...well I'd been called earlier...someone told me I had clearance to see him only at night because he was nervous around people."

His face didn't shift at all,

"Who called you?"

Backing up a bit, but running into the ambulance, the man half smiled,

"I-I...I don't remember his name...some doctor. He said the state had put me on his case...The Joker's I mean...I tried to turn him down, I mean Christ man, it's THE JOKER...but he said I couldn't...said...well I had to take the job."

Batman stared at him, knowing he wasn't sharing everything he knew...yet.

****

P3

"Why am I always the last to know?"

Robin complained as he swung from the rooftops towards Arkham, flipping over a telephone wire and landing gracefully in the middle of the street as he spotted another mugger attacking an old woman.

His fist connected perfectly with the man's jaw, then a knee with his gut, the guy buckling almost instantly under the strain against his nimble body.

"Man, they just keep getting weaker."

Cuffing him, Tim took off again, Oracle's voice chiming over his communicator bringing an anticipation for action,

"Batman's on it, Robin, you can go home."

He sighed, obviously annoyed,

"Okay. Robin out."

Dammit, he thought, this night sucked.


	2. Chapter 2

****

Quick Note: I realize I switch back and forth from present tense to past tense once and a while, this is due to the fact that I own and run my own RPG forum, where we write in present tense. I know what past tense is, and how to structure it...but it's harder to switch back then you'd think. Habit and all. xx Thanks so much for all the nice replies! I'll get the third chapter up quicker, since it's already done. :-P

****

Chapter 2

Part One, Crazy?

The flames had finally been put out, the soggy remains oozing with black soot and charcoaled support beams.

"Any survivors?"

The reporter pointed the microphone at Commissioner Gordon, but got a response from Harvey Bullock instead.

"Everyone on the North side of the building had minor injuries, and most of the inmates were recovered safely. Some hurt, but alive." He looked back at Jim, both of them knowing...he was missing.

The woman with the mic asked the obvious question,

"Is everyone accounted for?"

P2

Batman watched Harley Quinn being loaded onto a stretcher, her injuries somewhat severe. She was the only one of the prisoners seriously wounded...the paramedics said she was in a trauma related coma...maybe for good...

He looked into the empty cell to his right, following the footprints from the door to the crushed roof...blood. Closer inspection revealed a few strands of green hair left within a few of the crevices in the rocks. He'd fallen.

Immediately Bruce recalled seeing something in the woods...it had been HIM...he cursed himself for being so blind.

Quickly he followed in The Joker's footsteps, pulling the piece of his suit off of the bush as he reached the forrest's edge.

He couldn't have gotten very far.

P3

He clutched his head, the throbbing bubbling what was left inside of his stomach to the surface. Stumbling over the curb, he released the rest of it, coughing and sputtering for a moment...

He lifted his gaze, looking around him and not knowing where he was. A hundred times he'd seen this street...but it wasn't familiar to him anylonger.

His body began to shake, setting into early stages of shock from blood loss and over-excitement. Though his life was constantly full of action, he found himself panicking...

A small black gloved hand reached down for him,

"Come on, Mistah J! I'll help ya!"

He looked up, shaking his head,

"Y-you're dead."

Harley smiled, her face as clear as day to him in a world full of confusion and blurs.

"Come on, Puddin'! Bats is comin!"

Gingerly, he pushed himself up, the world spinning as he ran...

****

Chapter 2

Part Two, Repeating

The cherry fizzled out as it hit the puddle, the tan colour of the butt turning a light brown as the water soaked into the filter.

Tonight had been bad. Not as bad as some, but it was up there.

Jim let out a sigh, tucking his old tired hands inside of the tattered pockets in his jacket.

"You okay, Commish?"

He turned, a puff of Harvey's cigar hitting him in the face,

"I've been better."

He smiles,

"Think we all have."

Returning the gesture, the Commissioner rested his hand on Bullock's shoulder,

"You'll be thinking that more when you're filling out the paperwork."

P2

He'd been here, blood and vomit caking the pavement just outside of the wood's edge. His trail was obvious...erratic...

Batman stepped off of the curb, his cape billowing out behind him rhythmically with the gusts of wind as he pushed on. He had to find Joker before he did anything...before he killed another innocent.

His eyes flicked down to the road, glass and tiretracks left as evidence of his presence.

He'd lost him.

P3

The sounds of the tires screeching pulled him out of the darkness, the concussion having dangerous effects on his consciousness...

"Wake-up, PUDDIN!"

He shook his head, rubbing the drying blood from the back of his neck,

"No...you're dead."

She turned to him, her eyes filling with tears,

"Why do you keep saying that?!"

He slammed his eyelids shut, trying to push her out...she wasn't real.

Harley screamed, headlights blinding the two of them as they approached from ahead.

****

Chapter 2

Part Three, See things?

The steam and smoke rose from the now totaled engine, a small click and sputter emitted from deep within the recesses of the machine. Oil leaked onto the ground, dangerously close to where the man driving the other vehicle had flicked his cigarette.

Joker shoved open the door, falling out onto the road with a heavy and painful thud, his prisoner outfit now saturated in his own blood. A brand new slice embedded deep within a bruise laid in the corner of his forehead, the steeringwheel adding a nice addition to the long list of injuries he'd already sustained.

"Hey, buddy...are you..." The man froze up, getting a good look at the other driver. "Jesus, it's The Joker!"

Joker winced, pulling the gun he'd found inside of the glove compartment out of his pocket, a mist of red spray flying through the air as it went off.

The other man fell lifelessly to the ground, his smoke finally catching the fluids underneath the cars on fire.

Limping away, Joker skimmed the scene for Harley, but she was no where to be seen.

P2

Oracle pressed her index and middle fingers into her temples, trying to force the newly developed headache from her mind so she could concentrate on what was more important...like helping Bruce and Dick find the Joker.

Batman had radioed her with the news of his escape, the all too familiar feeling of dread seeping back into her daily routine. Every time that madman escaped, she was sure he was going to come straight for her, or even worse, her father.

"Three people just called 911, they said there was a crash." She listened carefully to the calls, "And that a man was shot. Sending the coordinates now."

Nightwing replied first,

"I'm on it."

Batman's voice cut through to both of them,

"No, leave him to me."

Dick started to argue his case,

"I'm right there, I can-"

His tone didn't change, the same emotionless orders floating across the air like Dick was still beneath him,

"Go home, Nightwing. Joker's mine. Batman out."

Barb winced, making sure Bruce wasn't listening in as she spoke,

"Why don't you go check on the Asylum. See if you can find out anything about the explosion and what might've caused it."

He was silent for a long time, his knuckles slowly turning white underneath his gloves.

"I've done all I can. He can handle it from here. Nightwing out."

The communication was severed, Barb letting out a light groan.

"Damn you, Bruce."

P3

"Did it work?"

The figure submerged in shadow folded his hands together, waiting for the only news that was acceptable to him.

The messenger swallowed deeply, loosening his tie.

"Well..uh..his cell was empty..Sir."

His jaw clenched, rage stewing deep beneath the surface.

"And Quinn?"

He fumbled his words again, fear enveloping him.

"S-she's in a coma, Sir."

His body relaxed, a smile stretching across his face,

"Well then, it's not all bad. You know what to do."

The quivering man nodded twice, exiting the room by walking backwards.

Lighting a cigar though he usually didn't indulge in them, he laughed to himself. First Quinn, then The Joker.

****

Chapter 2

Part Four, Swing of things

Tearing open the door too Funnybone's warehouse, Joker stumbled inside, desperately searching for a light switch of any kind...

As the entire building lit up from above, his body froze, Harley sitting on the chair next to his chest of toys with a smile on her face.

"What took ya so long, Puddin?"

He ignored her, grabbing his head and shaking it lightly back and forth. For the second time that night he had the urge to throw up, this time around he was much more successful in keeping it down.

"Why won't you look at me?"

Harley's lip protruded, the pout almost more than he could tolerate...if she wasn't dead, he wanted to kill her.

Rage took control of him, his eyes bulging with hatred as he grabbed her shoulders,

"YOU'RE NOT REAL!"

He stopped, squeezing her arms a few times before it registered...he was touching her.

"Whaddya mean, Mistah J?"

No...he'd seen her body. She was dead.

Wasn't she?

P2

"You're sure you're all right?"

Jim Gordon held the phone closely to his ear, the worry lines on his forehead showing more prominently tonight.

His daughter's voice came stronger over the other line, though he could tell she was worrying just as much for him as he was for her.

"Daddy, I'm fine."

He nodded as if she could see him, looking down at his feet that were now soaked in mud.

"Sorry, Barb. You know how things can get...how I can get loose."

She sighed gently,

"I know, Dad...you'll find him soon, I know you will."

Her voice was reassuring...giving him a small sliver of confidence before the long manhunt began...she knew more than anyone that these searches were arduous ... and so many people would lose their lives first.

He hung up the phone, praying to God that this time...JUST this once...Joker would forget about the Gordon's.

P3

"Oracle."

He pressed his hand against his cowl, adjusting the earpiece so he could hear her better.

"What's up?"

She sounded distracted, her tone wavering. Her emotions in this were running high, as were everyone's.

Leaping into the Batmobile, Batman shut the roof and revived the engines, letting it sit for a minute while he ran the start-up system for his computer.

"I need you to find me all known locations for the Joker."

The sounds of keys clacking emitted from the air waves.

"Shouldn't you know these by heart?"

He didn't acknowledge her remark, instead reworking the list of the most possible facilities he'd be using as she transferred them to him.

"Batman out."

Barb half grinned, knowing he wasn't on the other line anymore.

"You're welcome."

Chapter 2

Part Five, Memory Lane

"Where are ya goin, Mistah J?"

Harley kicked her feet back and forth, perched on top of a table and several of Joker's blueprints.

He pushed her roughly, her hands catching the brunt of the fall as she crashed onto the cement. Batman was coming for him. He knew it, and had to get out of there fast.

Getting up from the ground, Harley rubbed her hands down his back and across his chest, a teasing smile on her face.

"Why don't ya stay with me, Puddin?"

The back of his hand snapped against her cheek, knocking her to the floor once again. He leaned over her, grabbing her collar and raising his fist once more. She cried out as he struck her again and again, the look in his eyes unlike any that had ever been there before.

As her face began to blacken and break, the smile on his own started to grow, all his rage and confusion easily placed into this energy...

Long after she'd lost consciousness, Joker stopped, breathing heavily in an attempt to calm down and collect this already jumbled thoughts...something was wrong with him, he knew it.

Looking back at the dying woman on the floor, his stomach knotted, something he hadn't seen before...her belly...she was pregnant.

"NO!"

He screamed, falling backwards over the stool behind him and landing on his side. His entire body shook, something trying mercilessly to break through to him...something in his mind trying to remind him of something he'd forgotten so long ago.

His fingers ran up into his hair and squeezed, pulling lightly as he struggled to find the want to open his eyes again...to look at her.

One eye peered over there, the other one popping open instantly.

She...she was gone.

P2

The tires skid across the pavement as he stopped, immediately leaping out of the cockpit and running towards Funnybone's.

The lights were on, and the door was open...but Joker was already gone.

Batman searched the place, looking for anything Joker might've left behind. Something that would help him find the crazed clown.

A dark pool on the floor caught his attention, the crimson liquid reflecting his face back up to him. Next to it was a battered mannequin of Batman himself, the cotton and fabric torn so badly that the metal underneath had been exposed, pieces of skin scraped off onto it.

This was Joker's blood.

P3

The sounds of medical machinery bounced off the walls of the hospital room, Harley Quinn's pale form laying motionless on the firm little bed.

The IV dripped steadily, her heart monitor beeping rhythmically along with the oxygen pump, her chest slowly rising and lowering in time with them.

Bullock finished signing a few papers, checking back into her room one more time, just to make sure her cuffs were secure, and that she was in fact still breathing.

He hesitated at the door for a second, scanning everything one more time before shutting it with a light click.

Waiting to make sure he was gone, the thin man folded himself out from underneath the counter and approached the slumbering Quinn.

He pulled the needle from his pocket, tapping it to make sure all the air was gone. This poison was untraceable and incurable. No connection could be made, and the doctors would probably pawn it off on heart failure.

He pushed the syringe into the IV drip and prepared to administer it.


	3. Chapter 3, Part 1

**Chapter 3**

**Part One, Welcome Home**

**P1**

Joker dug around his pockets for a second, momentarily forgetting that he was still wearing the required patient uniform and had nothing but white lint in his pockets.

His hands had scabbed over and stopped bleeding already, and despite the fact that they hurt him a great deal, he remained unfazed and determined to return to normalcy.

His eyes cast downwards, a rather small and dirty bobbypin laying almost invisibly on the ground outside of the house.

He smiled, squatting down in front of the door with his newfound tool. Pulling the small rubber nub off of the end of it with his teeth, he slid it into the handle and placed his ear near by.

The door popped open, Joker checking a watch that wasn't actually on his wrist.

"I think that's a new record." He laughed, stepping into Commissioner Gordon's house and slamming the door behind him.

**P2**

Jim finished the last of his coffee, trying to rub the exhaustion from his eyes with his index finger and thumb. It never worked.

He glanced at the time. 2:40am. Another two hours and he would've been up for a full twenty-four. Not that it was anything unusual for him, his first wife Barbara had always complained to him about the times he'd get home. Calling the station every night to make sure he wasn't dead yet. And Sarah...well she understood, being what she was and who she was.

He shut his eyes, forcing away tears.

No...he wouldn't do this again...wouldn't let it happen again. Not now.

Not ever.

**P3**

Dick fell down onto his couch, shutting his eyes in an attempt to let the sleep that he so rarely gets, come to him.

It wasn't working.

His anger at Bruce and his worrying for Barb kept getting stirred around in his head, the silence in his apartment so deafening that he could hear a high pitched ringing from lack of noise.

How irritating, he thought, sitting up again and running his fingers through his moppy black hair. This whole night was nothing but stress for him.

Nothing good ever happened in Gotham City.

**Chapter 3**

**Part Two, Dying to See You**

**P1**

Harvey Bullock was about ten steps from the door when he realized he'd left his lighter on the table, opening Quinn's door slowly while fumbling with the lights.

The room became blinding as he flipped both of the two switches, reducing it to one to keep from squinting.

Grabbing his light from the countertop, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye...a needle a doctor must've left sticking out of Quinn's IV.

He approached it slowly, the liquid inside the tube still unused.

Slightly puzzled, he backed away from it, trying to remember if that was there before...

Silently, and quickly, someone slipped behind him and out the door, already thinking of another way to finish the job. Harley Quinn had to die.

**P2**

Batman checked off several more of Joker's known hideouts, the only one even showing signs of him being out of Arkham again was Funnybone's Warehouse. The explosives he had were undisturbed, as well as the chemical crates, the dust collected on both reaching what Batman had estimated to be about two months. There were, however, fresh fingerprints and droplets of blood on the case of a small pistol that was laying on Joker's desk.

He hadn't had enough time to verify, but there was something off about this...Joker was acting strangely...and now he was armed.

**P3**

Jim started the engine to his car and exhaled deeply, a small wave of relief washing over him at the thought of his nice, comfortable bed.

"I'm getting too old for this." He uttered, putting the gear into reverse before putting his hand on the passenger side's head rest and pivoting his body far enough to look out the rear.

Waiting a minute or two for people to move, he finally was on his way, digging around in his pockets absentmindedly for another cigarette.

Finding one, he placed the filter in his mouth and began another search for his lighter.

One of these days, he was going to quit.

The cherry lit up brightly, sending a nice red glow over the dashboard of his car. Cracking the window an inch or two, he took another drag and allowed himself to sink deep into thought on his way home.

All he wanted to do was relax and go to bed.

**Chapter 3**

**Part Three, Who's There?**

**P1**

Tim knocked on the door lightly at first, then harder, hearing shuffling around behind it before the locks unlatched.

He smiled at the groggy face looking at him from the cracked space, lifting his hand and wiggling his fingers as a form of hello.

"Hey..."

Dick pulled the chain off and opened the door all the way, glaring at Tim for waking him up so soon after he'd JUST fallen asleep.

"Shouldn't you be at home?"

Tim sighed, walking over to the couch and sitting with a deep thud,

"Didn't really feel like heading back to an empty house just yet."

Dick raised an eyebrow, pushing Tim's shoulder lightly to get him to scoot over,

"Where'd they go?"

Tim leaned forward and grabbed a handful of the now cold popcorn that had to've been sitting out for at least an hour, realizing it was stale only after he'd began to chew...he dropped the rest back into the bowl.

"Hawaii."

Smiling, Grayson put his feet up onto the coffee table and leaned back onto the plush cushions of his couch.

"How romantic."

Shrugging, he grabbed for the remote and flipped on the TV,

"Whatever." Turning his head back to Dick, Tim smiled lightly, "You don't mind if I stay here, do you?"

Dick swiped the remote from Tim's hand and laughed,

"Not unless you try watching your crummy cartoons again."

**P2**

Joker drug his fingers along the hallway, examining the pictures with a keen interest.

Commissioner James Gordon loved his daughter, it was obvious by the tribute of photos upon photos of her on his walls and desks...

Oh look, she's standing in that one!

He laughed lightly, mindlessly running his right hand over the gash in the back of his head...the blood crusted and caked all through his green hair by now.

Heading into the far door, he glanced around at what appeared to be Jim's bedroom, finding a shotgun on the wall, and a badge laying on his dresser.

He placed the badge in his pocket, and carried the weapon with him to the bed, sitting down momentarily to rest...and to slow down the shifting room.

**P3**

Nothing.

It had been two hours since the Joker had broken out of Arkham and still...nothing.

Batman dropped the punk he had held at the collar, allowing him to scramble to his feet and run back into the dank alleyway he'd caught him in.

Though he'd been an ex-employee of Joker, he hadn't heard anything about his escape, and swore over and over again that he had nothing to do with it. Batman was more compelled to believe him when he began to share information that he hadn't asked for. Such as the names of others just like him.

Other scum that might know something.

**Chapter 3**

**Part Four, Fear**

**P1**

Oracle listened to the police radio, attentively listening for any signs of The Joker's whereabouts. There were none...at least, not yet. A man like that...he won't be hiding for long.

She sighed, running her thumb over the handle of her coffee cup. The liquid inside had long since cooled, the sugar and small amount of chocolate already settling back down at the bottom of the mug.

She hated this. This feeling of utter terror. She felt it every single time Joker was on the loose, but most of all, she hated that she was helpless to stop him...she was helpless that day so long ago...and she would be again...

She looked downwards, running her fingers over the tops of her legs...

Nothing...no feeling...

She checked again, this time hearing something...a body discovered...shot between the eyes...

As the police officer gave the location, she froze...that was near her father's house.

No feeling but fear.

**P2**

The sound of the phone ringing was what woke Joker, the urge to pick it up almost overwhelming. Suppressing it, he instead pulled the cord from the wall and let out a light groan.

He didn't recall laying down in the first place, let alone falling asleep on top of the bed.

Too wrapped up in his confusion, Joker didn't realize that he'd lost large amounts of blood, and he was ignoring the blackness that was curling up around his peripheral vision.

Leaning against the wall to stand up straight, and leaving a hand print of red on the border, he wobbled out into the living room.

For a second, he didn't know where he was, even forgetting his purpose for coming here in the first place.

As someone put a key in the door, it dawned on him, and he began to smile.

Gordon...

**P3**

"He's at my dad's!"

Batman stopped in his tracks, Barbara's voice over the commlink was panicked.

He reached down to his right side and pulled out the grapple, lifting himself up off of the street and out of anyone's ear shot.

"Are you sure?"

She spoke quickly and insistently,

"Yes! The police scanner picked up a murder close by, and when I tried to call him...the phone line was disconnected and I can't get back through...it just keeps giving me busy signals."

It wasn't enough proof to panic, but it was SOMETHING.

"I'll get there as fast as I can. Batman out."


	4. Chapter 3, Part 2

**Chapter 3**

**Part Five, Guests**

**P1**

Jim pushed open the door slowly, fumbling for the light switch lazily. His home lit up, a yawn escaping this throat as he rested his jacket on top of the table by his front door.

Running his hands through his thinning white hair, Jim sighed, making his way to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

As he moved the toothbrush back and forth rhythmically, hi eyes began to glaze over from overwhelming fatigue. It'd been a LONG day.

Leaning over the sink, he rinsed his mouth, and splashed cold water on his face, grabbing the towel off the rack to dry off the droplets.

As he stood up fully and pulled the cloth from in front of his eyes, a solid white face reflected beside him in the mirror, Joker's smile practically from ear to ear. His body jerked with fear, temporarily frozen in horror.

"Welcome home, Commissioner."

**P2**

Dick stretched lightly, glancing over a Tim with a smile on his face. The boy lay sprawled out between the couch and the table, half of his body on each. He'd fallen asleep almost instantly. It wasn't even to the part where Jaws attacks the little boy yet.

He got up, scratching the back of his neck gently and making his way towards the kitchen for a glass of milk. He felt as if he swallowed dryly one more time that his throat would be torn up into shreds.

Chugging it quickly, then feeling a little sick, he yawned, and shuffled his way back into the living room.

Pulling a blanket off the back of the couch, he pulled Tim's feet onto the cushions and covered him up, afterwards groggily finding his way to his own bed.

He'd just laid his head down on the pillow when his phone rang.

**P3**

Leslie finished filing out the last patient for the night, blinking her eyes slowly as the sting of exhaustion began to creep up on her. This night had drug it's way by, as most nights do, especially in her neighborhood.

She sighed, checking her watch before shutting down the computer. Usually she's getting up at this time, not going to bed.

Tomorrow was going to come awfully fast.

**Chapter 3**

**Part Six, Toxic**

**P1**

"Dick, is Tim with you?"

Barb clutched the phone tightly, her hails to Robin for the last twenty minutes being unsuccessful.

He rolled over onto his back and sighed,

"Yeah, he's here. Why, what's up?"

There was a small silence, followed by the sound of Barbara Gordon's voice wavering and unsure.

"I-I'm..."

He was instantly awake, sitting straight up as he changed ears,

"What is it, Babs?"

She noticeably swallowed,

"It's nothing. Just wanting to make sure Tim's okay."

Something else was bothering her, he could tell.

"Barb, please, what is-"

She cut him off, hanging up before he could respond.

"Really, it's nothing. Night, Dick."

**P2**

"What was in the needle?"

Bullock chewed on his soggy cigar, unable to light it in the hospital but leaving it in his moistened mouth regardless.

One of the lab technicians hands him the report, explaining it a little better for him.

"This chemical is illegal in the United States, Detective."

Harvey furrowed his eyebrows, glancing up at the smaller man,

"What does that mean?"

He looked into Harley's room, then back at Bullock,

"I suggest getting her tighter security, Mister Bullock. Whoever used this poison was intending for her to die."

Pulling the cigar from his mouth, Harvey gestured for a couple of the cops standing by the lobby desk to come over and informed them to stand guard.

He had to call Jim, let him know what's going on...

Though honestly, he wasn't even sure of that himself just yet.

**P3**

Several signals from the Batmobile immediately changed every stoplight green as he approached, a few cops passing in the other direction, but none of them stupid enough to try and pull him over.

If Barbara was right...if Joker was at Jim's...

No...

He didn't even want to think of that. He just had to get there as fast as possible and pray to God she was wrong...that he was wrong.

**Chapter 3**

**Part Seven, Gone**

**P1**

Jim slammed his body backwards, shoving Joker into the wall and onto the floor as he slid down the wall. Hurriedly he left the clown in the bathroom, getting as far as the living room before a deafening shot rang out through his house.

The hole in the ceiling dropped bits and pieces of plaster, Joker's mouth displaying a great big smile.

"Where are you going, Jimbo? The party's just..."

His face began to sag, while his body trembled under it's own weight...his will to speak was suddenly gone.

Joker fell to the side, the wall stopping him before he managed to collide with anything else.

Really getting a good look at him, Jim shook his head, somehow taking in the sight that stood weakly before him.

The madman's uniform was covered in dirt and dried blood, parts of it torn, some of it burnt...

Interestingly enough, he did not seem to notice his injuries, instead he stood in the home of the Commissioner of Police, sporting a shotgun and a grin.

His hands clutched the gun tightly, self inflicted wounds on his fingers and knuckles still bleeding heavily enough to drip onto the floor with a light patter.

But his face...his face was worst of all. A rather large gash spread out across his forehead, the line of blood flowing down his left cheek and underneath his chin onto his shirt...which was also soiled.

He was amazed the clown was even still breathing.

"What do you want?" Stupid question, he knew it, but he wasn't sure what else he could do.

Joker pressed his hand to his forehead, a light moan escaping through his parted and chapped lips.

"No...no...I..."

Jim stepped back a few feet, reaching for his jacket...for his gun.

"Why are you here?"

Snapping his head up, Joker fired a single shot.

**P2**

Batman leapt out of his car, the gun fired inside of Jim's house sending his stomach into a tailspin...

Kicking open the door, he glanced around the room, Jim walking slowly from the kitchen into the living room.

"Jim...are you...?"

He nodded a couple times,

"I'm all right...he...took off out the back."

Batman approached the Commissioner, putting his hand on his shoulder,

"What happened?"

Jim pushed his glasses back up onto his face with this thumb,

"He was here when I got home...had one of my shotguns..."

Leaning down slowly, Bruce picked it up, examining it for a second before setting it down on the couch.

"Did he say anything?"

Shaking his head, he grabbed at his pockets for a cigarette,

"No, nothing...but...well, he could've killed me...and he didn't. I know just as well as you do that Joker isn't always predictable, but...something's off."

Looking at Jim, then towards the door, he headed outside without another word. Joker came here for something, but what?

He did a quick search around the house, then headed back towards his car.

Climbing into the Batmobile, he sighed...

It wasn't just him. The Commissioner saw it too. Something's wrong...different...

**P3**

Leslie took her time closing up her clinic, somehow allowing almost an hour to pass before she was finally outside and locking up. The top lock was always a little tricky to get your key out of, but she'd been doing this for so long that she knew all the tricks to coax it out.

Pulling her keys out of the door, she placed them into her purse and turned around, her heart skipping one or two beats at the sheer sight of him.

"P-please..."

He fell onto his knees, a small line of blood trailing slowly out the corner of his lips, among other places.

She put her hands over her mouth, not believing the image that was laid out before her.

"Oh my God..."

Collapsing onto his side, he clutched the back of his head and began to rock back and forth,

"Please help me..." Was all he could whisper, images flashing before his eyes so quickly that he began to cry with despair...he didn't want to know...he didn't want this...

Running down the steps to him, she lifted his body as best as she could manage and supported him while unlocking her clinic. Carefully she guided him into the operating room and helped him up onto the table, securing his hands in restraints before taking a deep breath and readying herself for surgery...

Tears still fell down the side of his face and onto his ears, memories from his past drowning him with thoughts and emotions...

As Leslie administered the sedative to help him rest, the monster in his mind slowly faded...Joker was losing himself.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**Part One, News**

She'd spent several hours in the operating room, Joker's injuries fairly extensive and nearly fatal...why he hadn't bled to death already was a mystery to her. Another miracle given to someone undeserving...

She sighed, pulling off her medical gloves while mindlessly checking his vitals. He was stable, and sleeping rather deeply. Hopefully he'd remain that way until she could get in contact with Bruce.

Verifying his restraints were actually still secure, she left him laying there, heading back into her office and shutting the door quietly behind her. Somehow she couldn't feel safe until she'd twisted the lock into place.

Lifting the phone off of the receiver, she placed it to her ear and slowly dialed the Manor, clutching the cord in her hand nervously as it rang.

Alfred's calming voice came onto the other line,

"Wayne Manor."

Leslie sat down into her chair and rubbed her free hand on her forehead.

"Alfred, this is Leslie...is he..."

He cleared his throat,

"Out, I'm afraid."

Leaning back, she looked out the window in her office to make sure he was still asleep.

"I need you to contact him, Alfred...this is an emergency."

**P2**

Dick paced around his room, debating on waking Tim and heading over to Babs' place...

She'd sounded upset. Something else was bothering her and she wouldn't tell him. It wouldn't be the first time she's hidden her feelings from him.

Sitting back down on his bed, he ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. Something could've happened...

"No...she would've told me..."

"Told you what?"

Tim leaned up against his door, yawning slightly as he stretched.

Standing back up, Dick ran his right hand over the back of his neck,

"I thought you were sleeping."

Tim, rubbing his eyes, walked over to the bed and plopped down,

"Well, I was until you started slamming your heels into the floor."

He half smiled,

"Sorry."

**P3**

The street lights moved by rather slowly, the yellow glow rolling rhythmically through his car as he made his way through Gotham City.

It had been five hours since Joker had been at Jim's, and again he was back to the place he'd reluctantly started. With nothing.

Turning back towards the direction of the Batcave, he was about to give up for the night, but was stopped by the video phone flashing an incoming call.

He depressed the button, and stared into Alfred's surprisingly concerned face.

**Chapter Four**

**Part Two, Rise and Shine**

He slammed his foot down on the accellorator, his heart racing as fast as the pistons were inside of his engine. He silently cursed Leslie under his breath for setting up her clinic in Crime Alley, all the criminals in this city knowing exactly where to find a doctor they could see without attracting the unwanted attention of the police department.

Leslie had told Alfred that Joker was delirious, and so far he hadn't been a danger to her, but Bruce knew better. He was always dangerous...and hallucinations usually didn't FIX that sort of problem...

He just prayed she knew better than to believe that even for a second.

**P2**

His left eye twitched slightly, the colours and images building within his mind causing minor disturbances in his expressions...

"No..." His whisper was too quiet for the woman in her office to hear, the sedatives she'd given him slowly beginning to wear off...

His fingers curled into his palms, making rather tight fists as he started to pull on the straps holding him to the metal operating table.

"You can get out of these. Remember?"

He clucked his tongue playfully on the roof of his mouth, a smile etching across his face as his eyes popped open. "Oh yeah. I remember."

**P3**

Leslie had just finished writing down his stats, letting her hair down from the tight bun she kept and shaking her head lightly to straighten it out. As soon as Bruce got there, she could finally rest...after a full twenty-four hours at the clinic, she was ready to go home.

Turning her chair around, she peered out the window again, this time her throat collapsing in a frozen panic. The table was empty...

She stood up, her face going pale and her body beginning to shake as she saw...

"Oh God..."

The glass shattered inwards, a rather large and bulky chair slamming through the pane and across the room near her, the laughter so loud it drowned out all other sounds...

**Chapter Four**

**Part Three, Who am I?**

He hopped over the glass, the fresh bandages she'd put on his head already showing red from underneath. Though he didn't even seem to realize they were there.

Smiling, he approached her slowly, a scalpel spinning playfully between his thumb and index finger. His face was full of humour but remained worn and dead looking, grayish bags underneath his eyes displaying his hidden exhaustion.

"Now, how did I get here, Doc?"

She backed up into the wall, trying desperately to keep fear out of her expression.

"Y-you came here yourself...asked for my help."

Taking a large step forward, he slammed the knife into the plaster next to her head and giggled.

"Oh, I'm sorry, that was the wrong answer."

She held her ground, somehow managing not to shake beneath the imposing psychopathic man towering over a foot above her.

"You were in some kind of accident...told me something about a bomb before you lost consciousness."

He cocked his head to the side, curiosity distracting him momentarily,

"You're very good at pretending..." Pulling the sharp object out of the wall, he placed it against her cheek and pressed hard enough to draw a line of blood. "But I can tell."

She cried out, pushing on him as hard as she could muster and nearly panicking as his body hardly rocked. She was going to die...she knew it.

"Let me go!"

He laughed once again, leaning in so close to her face that their noses were brushing up against each other.

"Scared yet, Doctor?"

A small gloved hand was placed onto his right arm, his eyes jerking to meet her as she smiled up at him...her other hand rubbing her stomach gently...maternally...

Leslie was frozen in terror, unable to react aside from uttering,

"Please...don't..."

Joker released his grip on the older woman, backing away in horror at the images before him. His back ran forcefully into the wall, sliding down it and to the floor. Touching his wrapped head with his hands, he shook it lightly.

"No...no...don't..."

Putting her hand on her chest, she waited for her heart to stop beating so quickly. She took in a deep breath and whispered as quietly as she could.

"Oh, God...please help me..."

He was too far gone to even hear her prayer, his body already shaking from the shock that was settling in...

"I...I told you to fix it!"

She cringed, afraid he would get back up from the ground at any moment. The knife was still clutched firmly in his palm, the sharp end of the blade facing downwards. He rubbed his head for a few minutes, rocking back and forth while uttering things so quietly she couldn't even hear them.

"Joker?"

He just shook his head, banging it lightly against the wall with a hollow thud. "You were supposed to make her go away..."

Leslie held in her breath for a moment, not understanding the scene that was unfolding in front of her.

"Make who go away, Joker?"

He curled his legs up into his chest and began to sob with desperation, Leslie's eyes still resting on the knife as he spoke,

"She's dead...she's dead...oh, God, I'm sorry...it's my fault..."

She didn't know what to do. He was too close to the door for her to even think about attempting an escape.

"Who is dead?"

He broke down, his body convulsing with the grief he'd been devoid of for all these years.

"Y-you can't fix me, can you? It...it couldn't be...it's my fault."

Was this a trick? And if so, why hadn't he already just killed her?

"Fix you?"

He glanced up at her, her throat tightening as she got a good look at his eyes,

"I'm a monster..." The hot tears fell down his cheeks and off of his face onto his shirt, large spots already having formed. "I...oh god...all those people..."

She couldn't explain what was happening, nor was she sure she would even want to if she understood it. The only thing she could even guess was that the concussion he received had somehow damaged his memory perception...

"Who is dead, Joker?"

He shook his head, squeezing the scalpel harder within his grasp,

"No...you have to go...you have to leave or I'll...I'll hurt you...and I...I don't want to..." She walked closer to him and reached for the knife in his hand, but he screamed at her, and pulled away, "DON'T TOUCH ME! You can't help me!"

She clenched her jaw, unable to even formulate coherent thought,

"Please...give me the scalpel..."

Again he pushed his arms over his head, trying to drown out the images and thoughts that were coming back to him.

"I can make it stop...I can make myself stop!"

Before she could even move, he'd ground the end of the blade into his wrist, dragging it down almost six inches and getting at least two on the other before she could tear it away from him.

He didn't even fight her, instead just leaning back into the corner and muttering as his body became limp.

"Oh god."

She rushed for her medical supplies but he put his leg in front of the door...

"Let me die...please...just..."

Pushing him out of the way, she ran for the tray at the back of the room and grabbed more sedative and a few towels.

"Where are you, Batman?"

Joker flinched in pain, bobbing his head back and forth as the world around him slowly came back into focus...where...?

He shot up from the ground, looking down at his arms in fright.

"What did you do to me?!"

Leslie stopped just inside of the door, realizing her error only after he'd wrapped his hands around her throat and began to squeeze.

"Nouuuugh..."

Rage consumed him as he cut off her air supply, taking a brief moment to throw her across the room and into the wall before getting to her again.

"NO ONE DOES THAT TO ME! NO ONE!"

Something large and metal slammed into the side of his skull, Joker skidding across the floor and leaving a trail of blood behind him.

Batman dropped the medical tray and wrapped Leslie into his arms, holding her for as long as it took to get her to stop shaking.

**P2**

Harvey leaned back in the chair and adjusted his hat, letting out a deep sigh as he tried to get some "watchful" shuteye. There hadn't been anyone else to watch Quinn at the hospital, leaving him with the grunt work, and the back ache.

He didn't know why the hell someone would be this adement about killing her, but as long as someone was out there, he'd be sitting here...

**P3**

He crossed his arms, lounging into the chair and with keen interest written on his face.

"So Quinn is..."

His errand boy smiles out of nervousness,

"Alive...but I'm taking care of that as we speak."

Sighing lightly, he leaned forward onto his desk and stared deeply at the young man,

"For your sake, let's hope so."

**Chapter Four**

**Part Four, Lies**

After almost ten minutes, Leslie pushed away from him, looking over at the unconscious clown with a deep sigh.

"We need to get him to the operating table."

Only briefly did he hesitate, knowing full well that Leslie was adamant about helping those in need, no matter what the circumstance.

Leaning down to lift him from the linoleum, he finally noticed the slits down his pale wrists.

"Who did this?"

She grabbed her medical supplies, walking swiftly in front of them,

"He did."

Bruce stopped in his tracks, looking down at the ill man supported in his arms.

"Why?"

She reached out for his hand, pulling him towards the table quicker,

"He was trying to end his life, Batman."

The use of Batman, instead of Bruce, threw him a little. It had been so long since she hadn't used his name, he'd almost forgotten the need for extra precaution.

Gently he rested The Joker down onto the metal surface, Leslie carefully supporting his head.

"What happened?"

Already cleaning his wounds, and preparing to sew them, she exhaled rather loudly.

"I...I can't even find the words to explain it..."

He spoke to her softly, resting his hand on her still quivering shoulder.

"Leslie."

She finished his right side before speaking again,

"It was like...like he was a different person." She looked back at Bruce with a sort of empathetic pity. "He was crying, begging for me to fix him...and everything he's done."

His eyes narrowed,

"You can't trust him, Leslie. The Joker is manipulative, and likes to toy with-"

She shook her head, glancing back at the beaten and bruised criminal.

"No...this was different. He looked...he WAS a different person."

Batman wasn't buying it, though he honestly believed Joker had managed to distort Leslie's view upon him.

"I'm not sure what game he's playing, but-"

Her face hardened as she pressed a formerly white towel up against Joker's other wrist.

"You didn't see it, Br...Batman. The look in his eyes...I may not know much about this man, but when he came to me...I don't know what, but something's happened to him...and my medical opinion? It has something to do with the massive head trauma he suffered in that blast."

He stood in silence, unable to formulate the words to make her understand.

Joker was tricking her into believing his warped charade...

He had to be...

**P2**

Barbara was nearly asleep at the computer when the call from Bruce came through, her body jerking with a painful start as he spoke,

"Joker's with me. I'm going to take him to the hospital and release him into police custody."

She sat up straight, the words finally sinking in,

"The hospital...what did you...what happened?"

There was a slight pause, a minute or two there she thought she'd offended him.

"He went to Leslie's. I got here before it was too late."

Barb put her hand over her mouth, closing her eyes to keep herself from crying. He had done so much to them...all of them...she didn't know how much more she could take...

"Is she...?"

His response this time was quick to her relief,

"She's fine."

She sighed heavily,

"Thank God."

Silence followed over the air for a few minutes, Barbara not knowing if she should speak or wait for him to.

"I want you to find out everything you can about the explosion at Arkham."

Immediately she began typing, already pulling up the security cameras and their video feed for the last twenty-four hours.

"On it. I'll keep ya posted."

"Batman out."

The line went dead, leaving Oracle alone with her computers, and her thoughts.

**P3**

Neither of them had managed being able to fall back asleep, years of sleepless nights roaming the streets of Gotham City making them both accustomed to being awake for days at a time.

"Do you have anymore soda?"

Tim sat up from the couch, heading into the kitchen and opening the fridge.

Dick sighed, looking back and upside down at the young man raiding his food and beverages,

"That all depends, how many have you had?"

Plopping back down onto the cushions, he grinned,

"Only fourteen."

Yanking the Pepsi from his fingertips, Dick cracked it open and drank at least half of it in several chugs.

"I think you've had enough." He mocked.

Stealing it back, he sneered at the top of the can before finishing it off,

"I'll tell you when I've had enough."

Flicking a piece of napkin at Tim's nose, Dick laughed,

"That might work with your dad, but this is my money you're guzzling."

**Chapter Four**

**Part Five, Playthings**

Joker's face contorted repeatedly, the dreams within his head dragging up long forgotten trauma from his life before the madness.

"Jeannie..."

A single tear fell from his left eye and trailed down the side of his face to the table.

Batman frowned, looking down at him with uncertainty. Joker had made a living out of tormenting and manipulating innocents, especially those that were involved with Batman...but he couldn't ignore the signs, or Leslie's persistence about his mental state. If what she was saying held truth...Joker was even more insane now than ever.

"Bruce?" Leslie practically whispered to him, touching his arm gently. "I'll be back soon."

He shook his head, turning to face her.

"No, you need to rest. Go upstairs and sleep, I'll handle The Joker."

She sighed, pushing her frayed hair away from her eyes,

"Be careful, Bruce. I meant what I said...there's something different about him...but I know I don't need to tell you that you can't trust him. When he tried to kill himself, he almost instantly reverted back to himself...just before you came. It's like he's two separate people."

Nodding, he walked her to the staircase and waited until she'd reached the top and shut the door before heading back into the operating room.

Making his way to Joker's side, he rested himself up against the wall with a patch of shadows...waiting for him to awake.

**P2**

Barbara bit her lower lip, clinging to it for a couple seconds as she loaded the other video files. So far she'd gotten nothing abnormal, at least, nothing they didn't already know about.

The lawyer at the front door. The Joker restlessly roaming in his cell. He and Pamela Isley seem to share a few words before the explosion, Joker drawing something onto the glass just before…

Both of their heads turned to stare at something zipping down the hallway.

Her eyes widened and she rewound the tape.

Sure enough, as she replayed it, she found a small object that she couldn't quite make out, but assumed it was some kind of remote controlled toy by the way it moved.

A car maybe? Though it's been done, she wouldn't put it past the criminals of Gotham City.

Replaying it again, she kept a close watch on Joker, his surprise just as genuine as everyone else in the building. So...he himself had nothing to do with it?

She took the time to locate who's cell the object erupted in front of, her eyebrow raising.

It had been just between Joker and Harley's cells...but what was odd here was that their rooms normally weren't beside each other for safety reasons...it had been changed earlier that day according to their records.

Had someone been trying to kill them?

**P3**

Dick reached over for his phone, rubbing his hands over his eyes as he answered.

"Hello?"

Barb sounded somewhat urgent,

"You might wanna get dressed."

He sat up, knowing exactly what she meant.

"What's going on?"

She cleared her throat,

"I'll let you know when you call me back."

And with that, she hung up the phone, leaving him to wake Tim and suit up.

"Tim...get up."

A fist swung at him in a tired rage, Dick easily dodging it. Smacking the boy lightly on the cheek a couple times finally did the job, his eyelids peeling open slowly,

"Uhhh...wha?"

Pushing him a few more times for good measure...and for fun...he grinned,

"Get up. Babs needs us to do something for her."

Rolling over onto his side, Tim yawned.

"She couldn't have called two hours ago?"

Dick chucked a pillow at him, then headed towards the stairs.

"Of course not. You were awake then. Come on, you can change upstairs.


	6. Chapter 5

**QUICK NOTE: **To both new and old readers... Your reviews have inspired me to finish a story that I started four years ago. Thank you so much! 

**Chapter Five**

**Part One, Those Lost...**

Nightwing burst out of the drainage exit, followed closely by an over eager Robin on a brand new ride. The handling capability was twice what his other bike could do, and this one even had NOS.

Enjoying himself a little _too_ much, Tim popped a wheelie, instantly receiving a hard stare from Dick in response.

"That bike is new."

Smiling, Robin shrugged,

"Should break it in, then."

Shaking his head, Nightwing hailed Oracle as they reached the street.

"So, what's going on?"

An odd noise came over the line at first, taking Dick only a second to figure out what it was. She was eating...this late? And she complains about her arm fat.

"I need you guys to check something out at Arkham for me. The security tape of the explosion shows some kind of gadget navigating the hallways before it burst into a ball of flame."

Tim revved the motorcycle,

"Bet it's something of Joker's."

Barbara instantly disagreed,

"No, I don't think so. His reaction to it was the same as everyone else...either someone was targeting him, or he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

His curiosity taking the best of him, Nightwing looked back at Robin with a smirk,

"So, you're telling me that The Joker might be innocent."

Her voice was steady and sure,

"Yeah, I think he might be."

**P2**

She was the last person on earth you'd think would be defending The Joker...the man responsible for putting her in this wheelchair, and ending her nights as Batgirl. Though there wasn't a question of her hatred for the man, she couldn't ignore what she'd seen, and as much as she despised saying so, she thought Joker was the target in this case, and not the cause.

He was the victim.

Four words she never thought she'd even consider...but it's not like he didn't have enemies. He'd ruffled more than a few feathers between good and evil alike. Now just to narrow it down to only a few hundred suspects as opposed to a few thousand.

"Okay...first thing's first."

She uttered, talking to no one in particular, but for some reason feeling as if she had company anyway. With all the men and women that just sneak into her apartment and the clocktower, she was always under the impression that one of them was there and just waiting for her to unload the info.

Concentrating, she tried to pull up the name of the doctor that switched Quinn's holding room...

An access denied screen flashed over her monitor, puzzling her slightly in the process.

She'd decrypted all of these, as well as knew the backdoor into all of the programs in Arkham's harddrive...this was new, and rather high tech.

Finishing off her soda, she stretched and cracked her fingers before beginning.

**P3**

_"Oh, honey...it's a boy...we're having a boy!"_

_He ran his hands through her long, beautiful blonde hair, a warm smile growing on his face._

_She reached for his palm and squeezed, his heart swelling with an emotion he'd never felt before...he'd never been this happy._

_"I love you, Jeannie."_

_She smiled back at him, reaching up for a long, loving embrace._

_"I love you too."_

_His eyes shut as his body relaxed, taking in the sight and smell of something he'd almost forgotten..._

_Almost instantly his hold on her began to slip, darkness replacing the places of love and joy surrounding them just seconds ago._

_"Jeannie?"_

_Her skin turned a blinding white and her lips a ruby red, her face twisting into a hideously deformed sneer...lifeless and rotting._

_"You lied to me...told me you had a show...why didn't you stay home with me, Joker?"_

_He shook his head, standing up quickly and backtracking until hi body collided with someone else's._

_He looked up, screaming in terror at the monster before him...but he was staring at himself..._

_"NO!"_

_The clown's hands wrapped around his throat and began to crush it, the air in his lungs fading quickly...he was falling into blackness._

_"She's dead. Give it back!!!"_

_Shoving him off, he scrambled to his feet and ran...ran into the darkness to escape another._

His eyes flew open, his whole body shaking and convulsing from an intense panic he'd never felt before. Even as consciousness began setting in, he couldn't help feeling that the soulless eyes that had chased him in his dreams…were staring down at him still.

The continuing thud of his pulse was so loud that it drowned out his gasps for air and the erratic beeping of his heart monitor.

The pictures and thoughts in his head were faded very slowly, sticking with him...swirling around him...drowning him...

After a minute or so, he tried to wipe the sweat from his brow, quickly discovering his hands to be in restraints. Attached to the table by two very strong cloth straps.

Arkham had actually stopped using this very product after he'd escaped from them six times in a row. It had amused him greatly that they'd waited until he'd killed nine of their security guards before forking over the extra cash for shackles.

Though a part of him had hoped he would reach an even ten before human life became more important than the almighty buck.

Laying his head back down, he shut his eyes for a second, immediately jerking them open again as the images from his dream returned to him.

He couldn't stop seeing her dead face...

Sighing, he stared up at the ceiling, glancing above him as the air current in the room changed.

His whole body jumped out of fear, a light yelp escaping him.

"Oh God."

Batman, who had been hiding in the shadows behind him, now circled him, keeping a close watch on his face.

"Tell me what happened tonight."

He wouldn't look him directly in the eye, fearing that in some way if he did that, he'd die instantaneously ... painfully...horribly...

"I...I don't know."

Remaining above him, he spoke firmly and authoritatively.

"Do you know who you are?"

For a long time, he didn't answer...his fists clenching and unclenching in pain.

"I don't know who I am...but I know what I was."

**Chapter Five**

**Part Two, Cheap Shot**

Finding a way inside of Arkham without attracting police attention, the two of them carefully made their way through the rubble towards the blast site.

Robin glanced back and forth into each room, using the glow of his flashlights to inspect the mess. All the inmates, dead or alive, had already been taken away to the hospital or the morgue.

"So, what are we looking for again?"

Nightwing's eyes skimmed the ground, searching for the object that Barb had spoken of...at least remains that resembled it, anyway. He was pretty sure he wouldn't find anything.

"Anything that may look like the remains of a bomb."

He nodded, combing through the cells while Dick went through the hallways.

"Do you really think Joker had nothing to do with it?"

Dick's eyes stop on something small, metal and mangled, that didn't look like anything that belonged to the Asylum, but after that kind of blast, who could be sure?

Kneeling down, he picked it up and sighed.

"I'm not sure...but I'm gonna help Oracle figure it out."

Robin spotted the shards in his hands, joining him over by Harley's cell.

"Is that it?"

Nightwing shrugged nonchalantly,

"Could be. Let's keep looking around a little just to make sure."

Flicking his light back over to room 0801, Robin frowned.

"Wonder where he is."

Standing back up, Dick stared down at the toy,

"Dunno...but we might not be the only ones looking for him."

**P2**

"You know what you were..."

He repeated...the words sitting strangely on his tongue. A part of him simply refused to believe this...to trust this madman.

Clamping his eyelids shut, he pushed away the humming of voices within his head.

"There's nothing I can say to you that you want to hear, Batman."

Leaning over him, he waited for him to open his eyes,

"What do you remember?"

Wishing he could pull away somehow, Joker cowered beneath him.

"I...I don't know...nothing..."

He was lying, hiding something from him for some unknown reason.

Reaching over him, Batman undid the bonds on each wrist, backing away a few feet from him.

Joker looked a little confused, waiting for some catch to Batman's rash actions...

"Get up."

Cautiously doing so, he cradled his arms as they pulsed with a newfound sharp pain.

"Where are we going?"

Batman's hands shot out, grabbing the Joker's bandaged arms roughly and twisting them backwards. A scream echoed around them.

"No where."

**P3**

It's times like these that she wished she had someone around to celebrate the cleverness of Oracle. Sure, it had taken her almost an hour to crack, but she did it nonetheless.

"Wow."

The corner of her mouth twitched lightly, a smile hiding just behind it.

This place held more confidential files than she knew existed. As she read on, her grin faded, replaced with a look horror.

"Oh my God."

She'd heard rumors about what they used to do to the patients at Arkham, but...there was no way to prepare someone for this kind of inhumanity.

Now feeling slightly ill from experimental photos and an unlimited supply of documentation, she moved on, downloading it all and saving it to file. Bruce would probably want them...for the records he insists on keeping so highly detailed.

Sometimes even she had to draw the line.

Opening up a series of emails, her face lit up,

"BINGO!"

Words exchanged between a Dr. Kurr and Dr. Arkham himself, just within the last week, instantly getting uploaded.

Dr. Kurr stated that a new transfer was being delivered on today's date, and that he needed to place him away from the most violent inmates.

He'd been the one that suggested the cell switch for Harley...but no patient was admitted at Arkham today...

**Chapter Five**

**Part Three, Mystery Man?**

Joker fell to his knees, crying out in pain as Batman's iron grip clutched the wounds so recently self inflicted upon his wrists.

"Please! I swear, I don't know anything!!!"

His fingers pressed harder against The Joker's flesh,

"Wrong! What do you know?"

Tears welled up in his eyes, falling down his face faster and faster with each passing second Batman held onto him.

"Oh, god..I..I dunno...there was a bear...yeah, a teddy bear."

Jerking his arms above his head, Bruce glared down at the clown,

"I don't have time for games."

Wailing in pain now, the pale man broke down, his head sagging,

"I swear to God! There was something driving down the hallway...I didn't do it!" Batman released him, Joker instantly pulling his arms into his chest as he curled up into his knees. "It looked like a damn bear...I can't remember anything else...I...I woke up at the Commissioner's place...remembered hearing about a Leslie Tompkins...I just wanted her to make it better..."

Reaching down to him, Bruce pulled him to his feet, and sighed,

"You said Jeannie in your sleep...who is she?"

His face fell, a sick look spreading over it.

Conflicted on what to say, if anything at all, Joker inhaled deeply and contemplated on a decent response to that question...suddenly realizing there is only one.

"She was my wife. She's dead."

**P2**

Nightwing pressed his middle finger up against his ear piece,

"We have a present for you."

Barb's voice sounded a little disturbed,

"Oh? You found something?"

Dick furrowed his brow, hearing yet again an odd tone coming from his friend.

"Yeah...hey, what's going on?"

This time, she was a little more willing to share,

"I've accessed the record archives of Arkham, and not including the horrible tests they used to do on these people, it's kind of upsetting."

Nightwing signaled Robin to follow him out of the side door and back to the bikes just outside of the Asylum.

"Upsetting?"

She corrected herself,

"Well, more troubling, actually. Harley's usually a good four or five cells away from The Joker, right?"

Starting their engines, they both took off for the clocktower,

"Yeah?"

Barbara, trying to make him see her point, continued.

"Tonight they were side by side, and a Metropolis doctor suggested her movement."

Dick and Tim made their way through the maze of traffic.

"Okay, so odd, but not troubling."

She sighed, explaining it a little better,

"The Metropolis doctor's name was Joseph Kurr."

**P3**

"We've found him. A reliable source said he was with the Bat at Tompkins's clinic."

The hired thug put his cigarette out in the clear glass ashtray at the corner of his desk, the smirk he sported bringing a small irritated glare out of his employer.

He leaned forward in his chair and rested his arms on top of the desk,

"So why are you still here talking?"

Getting the message, the hitman smiled,

"On it, boss."

He shook his head, holding out his hand to stop him before he left,

"Don't call me that, you idiot. You're doing this on your own, and if you get caught..."

Nodding, he backed up towards the door,

"I never heard of ya, I got it."

Waiting for him to leave, he picked up the phone and dialed a now memorized number. The line rang several times before it was answered, the voice behind it all too familiar.

"Let me speak with him."

The voice sounded somewhat annoyed,

"He's in a meeting right now."

He laughed,

"This late? I'm not a moron. Put him on, now."

After a slight pause, and some rustling, an angry tone answered him.

"What do you want?!"

Folding his arms on his chest, he grinned,

"It's done."

**Chapter Five**

**Part Four, Guilty**

"I'll take you to the hospital."

Batman led him towards the door, not knowing exactly how to respond to what Joker had said...regarding his wife. All of this was still unsettling to him, his belief in this madman less than concrete.

Wincing, Joker stepped down the stairs one baby step at a time, injuries all over his body...inside and out...hurting more than anything he could recall.

"I...I don't blame you for not trusting me."

Opening the hatch quickly and helping him inside, Batman sighed, everything rolling inside of his mind at a thousand miles per hour.

"Stay here."

The top closed over him, the sudden quiet giving him a confused comfort...though he wasn't sure how long he wanted to be left alone with his thoughts.

"God forgive me." He whispered, his head hanging just above his chest.

Taking a few steps away from the car, Bruce opened up a link to Oracle, filling her in as fast as possible.

"I'm leaving Leslie's now...but I have a few other things I have to do."

Still preoccupied with her research, she asked the obvious question,

"And The Joker?"

He looked back at vehicle, concentrating on the passenger side,

'Still with me...did you find anything?"

"Yeah, sending it to you now. There's some really interesting stuff in there...and by interesting, I mean really peculiar. Everything in this file proves that Joker is the one responsible for this."

Her voice sounds unsure.

Was she going to defend him as Leslie did?

"What are you thinking?"

There's a slight moment of dead air as she collects her thoughts,

"Either he really did do it...or someone wants us to think he did."

**P2**

The weight on his eyes lifted as Jim Gordon stepped off of the elevator, Harvey Bullock rising almost instantly from his post by Harley's door. Smiling, he reaches into his jacket and pulls out a cigar.

"Hey, Commissioner."

Stopping beside him, he returns the smile, and peers through the window at the coma ridden criminal.

"Did you see the assailant?"

He shook his head, digging around for his book of matches.

"No. Guy was gone before I got here."

Gordon raised an eyebrow at him, handing him an extra pack of matches from his own supply.

"If he was gone when you came into the room, then why didn't he finish the job?"

Thinking that one over for a second, Harvey shrugged,

"Guess he must've slipped past me."

Patting him gently on the shoulder, Jim signaled towards the replacement police officer, walking with Harvey in the other direction as the rookie sat down.

"Go home, Bullock. You look like hell."

He smirked a little at Gordon, looking him up and down. His hair was uncombed, his clothes were un-tucked and wrinkled, the circles under his eyes indicated he hadn't slept at all that night, and his face sagged as if the very muscles beneath it had just stopped trying.

"Just following your example, Commish."

Laughing lightly, he stepped back as the larger man got into the elevator car,

"Good night, Bullock."

The door shut lightly, the smile falling from his face as the feeling of exhaustion enveloped his old feeble form...

He needed to talk with Batman.

**P3**

She'd just disconnected with Batman as the other two arrived, sure enough bringing her what was left of the bomb. Reaching up for it, she rolled it around in her palm, her eyes dancing over the mechanics of it.

"Thanks guys."

Tim fell down into a chair and shut his eyes, rocking it backwards on it's back two legs.

"Wow, a thank you. Working with Bruce you almost forget what those sound like."

Dick laughed, pushing him hard enough to send the chair toppling to the floor with him along for the ride.

"Don't tip the chairs...you might fall."

Barb looked at them with a stern expression, a few wires and metal shards already out on top of her desk.

"Boys..."

Robin elbowed Nightwing as he stood up, smiling up at Babs with an innocent look.

"Sorry."

Pushing past Tim, Nightwing walked over to the chair parallel to Barb, and removed his mask with his thumb and index finger.

"So, what's the prognosis, Doc?"

She glanced up at him above her glasses, a sudden flashback of his old school librarian crashing through his mind.

"See this label?"

He leaned in, taking a closer look at it, his mouth opening and closing a few times, almost as if he was trying to figure out what he was looking at.

"That's..."

She drops the frame onto the table while nodding, a crease in her brow getting deeper,

"Yeah. This is a brand from a LexCorps factory."

**Chapter Five**

**Part Five, Names?**

The pale man's eyes shifted to the floor of the vehicle, his interest in the passing buildings fading as he realized he couldn't escape his own mind. Too many thoughts and memories crowded within his head, torturing him, plaguing the man he thought he was...at least once. But that was a long time ago, before Smilex, before the horror and destruction, before life and death battles with a man in a costume. He was now trapped within a body he couldn't understand, and a reputation he feared more than anything.

He was a killer.

He knew it. Could even remember every detail about his victims...but the idea sickened him, and the fact that he'd once had an unlimited urge to purge Gotham City of whatever innocence it may have had left, tormented him.

'Who am I?'

He thought, his body beginning to shake as the blood loss took it's toll.

Honestly, he couldn't remember anything about himself except his wife, his unborn son, and a night that he wished had vanished with all the rest of his memories.

Batman's gaze flitted over to him, examining his beaten and cut face with nothing but curiosity. This man that he'd tried to understand for years now emerged with a new piece to his very large, and very confusing puzzle. His actions have always been rash, and unpredictable. But this...this was more than he'd ever bargained for with this madman.

Turning on the heat, he checked him one more time, noticing his eyes sagging and threatening to close.

"Stay awake."

Touching his thumb and his index finger to his eyes, he rubbed gently, the burning sensation he felt almost unbearable. He was so tired...and every time he blinked, he felt as if partially dried glue had placed itself beneath his lids.

"I'm trying."

Bruce's jaw clenched in frustration, his current situation getting more and more difficult. With the hospital only a few minutes away, he couldn't begin to express how little joy Joker's death would bring him. Despite the thoughts of others...or even sometimes himself.

"Open your eyes, Joker."

His eyes flew open as a large gloved hand clutched his shirt, tugging him into a full upright sitting position. Every time he began to fade, Jeannie's face met him with a warm and welcoming smile. No longer was it twisted and hideous, but beautiful, and just the way he remembered.

Forcing himself to remain conscious, he took a deep breath, and sighed heavily.

"That's not my name, you know."

Staring ahead at the road, the emotionless figure in the driver's seat shifted, the movement so small, that his passenger didn't even notice the gesture of discomfort.

"What?"

Joker, who'd been playing with the torn pieces of his pants, quickly brushed the green sections of hair that had fallen into his face, back up on top of his head, resuming tearing at the purple fabric of his suit as he continued.

"I...I don't remember what it was...but it's not that."

Opening his mouth to speak, Batman suddenly found himself speechless, the glowing shape in the sky drying out any reservoir of thought he'd had left.

The bat signal.

**P2**

Jim tucked his hands into his jacket pockets, toying with the urge to pull out another cigarette and light it. Although he'd just put one out a few seconds ago, there didn't seem to be such thing as too much during times like these. The way he saw it, the city would kill him before smoking, so why stop now?

Giving in to temptation and stress, he pulled the smoke out of his partially crinkled pack, and placed the dented filter between his lips.

What was one more?

**P3**

"I guess we have ourselves another suspect." Barb retorted, leaning back in her seat while mockingly cracking her knuckles. "Thanks to me, anyway."

Dick shrugged, pushing himself up slowly from one of the extra computer chairs.

"Sooo, LexCorps it is."

Tim grinned, hopping up from his own seat and finding himself desperate for some kind of action.

"All right!"

Barb shook her head, holding out her hand to stop him,

"Not you. I need you to check the source computer for that email."

Tim raised an eyebrow, suddenly feeling his excitement dissipating.

"Email?"

She nodded slowly, slightly convinced he hadn't been listening.

"The email from Dr. Kurr. I traced it's location, and I need a sweep, think you can handle it?"

Heading for the window, he leaned part of the way out, feeling himself sink a little,

"I'm on it."

As Robin fell out the window, Nightwing gave off a large smile, and waved a quick good-bye before leaping out himself. Turning back to the PC, Barb began to type again,

"No one ever uses the door."

**Chapter 5**

**Part 6, Up In Flames**

Reaching over his lap, Batman grabbed one of Joker's wrists more delicately than before, attaching one end of a pair of handcuffs to his left side, and the other to the steering wheel.

"Stay here."

His mouth opened a bit looking down at the cuffs, then back to the costumed man in front of him.

"O...kay."

Slipping out of the cockpit of the Batmobile, he paused just long enough to ensure that it had in fact sealed The Joker within. He didn't have time for any...incidents that may occur while leaving him unattended. Whether he had another schizophrenic episode, attempted an escape, or remained as harmless as he was proving, Bruce wasn't willing to take even the slightest risk.

He had to make this quick.

Taking one last look at his car, Batman pointed his grapple upwards, and shot it into the darkened skies, lifting off the ground in a quick, almost silent motion.

The rooftop was wet, the one or two stars peeking out through the clouds reflecting in their silver surfaces.

"Jim."

The old man's shoulders noticeably tensed up, relaxing as his body carried his eyes to the silhouetted man behind him.

"I was beginning to think you weren't coming."

He almost hadn't.

"What's wrong?"

The browned butt fell from Gordon's aged and worn fingertips, sending a spray of sparks across the ground before hissing against the moisture below it.

"Thought you might be interested to know about a little incident that happened tonight at the hospital."

He remained there motionless, watching the eyes of his old friend closely.

"Quinn?"

Jim didn't look at all surprised by his accurate guess, knowing Batman, he'd probably been scanning the police radios all night, and was more than just guessing.

"Bullock didn't get a good look at the guy, but with the explosion at Arkham earlier, and now this...I think there's more to this than coincidence."

The explosion just outside of Quinn's cell, the call for a transfer from a Doctor Joseph Kurr, the frame of the bomb baring the Lexcorp symbol on it...and the second attempt on Quinn's life at the hospital. The question Bruce was trying to answer was...is Joker responsible...or is he a target as well?

"Is she-"

The words are thrown from his mouth as a ball of flames erupted from the alleyway not fifty feet from where they stood.

"Whoa! What the hell was that?"

Batman's body froze with a mixture of anger, and doubt.

"My car."

**P2**

Tim slipped into the small opening between the pane and the window, scoffing at the bars that kept it from rising any further,

"Child safety, my butt."

Digging around in his belt for a flashlight, he yawned lightly as he turned it on, the boredom of this assignment getting to him.

'Everyone else gets to do something that's useful, and I'm stuck looking through papers and trying not to disturb the roaches on the floor.' He thought, frowning lightly at the only computer screen glowing in the room.

Pulling up the rolling computer chair, and unable to resist spinning at least once, he tugged himself up to the screen and began pulling up the harddrives on all neighboring computers.

Maybe it was the gentle humming of the computer, or the slight squeak in the chair, but Tim didn't hear the footsteps approaching behind him until it was too late.

**P3**

Barbara rubbed her eyes gingerly, feeling exhaustion beginning to set in deep inside of her bones.

"Oracle?"

Adjusting her headset, she stretched her limbs and took a deep breath.

"Find anything, Nightwing?"

There's a brief pause, followed by the barking of several dogs,

"Sorry, momentary distraction...no, nothing. The factory this thing comes from doesn't even manufacture this metal anymore. Whoever made the bomb had it for a really long time."

She furrowed her brow, rechecking the information on her computer,

"Are you sure? This information says that they're still in business."

Another pause, and after a slight thud, his pained voice returned,

"Ugh...who the heck has electrical fence on their roof? Anyway, the rodents the size of cats and inch of dust inside states otherwise. You sure it's not the wrong address?"

Narrowing her eyes, she bit her lip lightly,

"Could be, I guess."


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**Part 1 - My Hero**

His eyes blurred in and out of focus, his stomach stirring around the most painful knots while his mind reeled around the possibility that this may be hell.

"Uuuuuhhh..." Lifting his head to meet the gaze of a large masked man, he took in a deep breath, personally not sure of anything anymore. "Am...am I dead?"

The man smiled through his ski mask, punching one hand into the other with a relishing thud.

"Not yet."

Reaching down, he pulled the wounded clown from an old Buick that probably once was a light blue, but after years of aging and neglect, was now a dull gray instead. He wasn't exactly sure how he'd gotten in there...the last thing he could honestly remember was sitting in Batman's car, and then a large explosion.

"What are you doing?"

Delivering a solid blow to his stomach, and one into his already beaten face, the thug laughed as he crashed to the pavement, cuts that had been sealed for almost an hour now suddenly reopening.

"My job."

He held out his hand to the man above him, pleading with him to stop, letting out a pained yell as a combat boot met his side.

"Please...don't...don't do this..."

Shouting down at him, he slammed his toe into his ribs with a chuckle.

"Well, since you said please..."

Screams echoed over the rooftops around them, a thin string of blood falling from his mouth in an endless supply to the dirty alleyway beneath him.

"Oh God...please..."

He wasn't sure where the man had gotten the crowbar, or how many ribs he broke on the first swing, but the sound it made when it connected with his body was a sound he'd heard before...a sound he wished to God he didn't remember.

"You think God's gonna help you?! The Joker?!"

A voice from behind caused both men to stiffen, two glowing eyes and a tall dark shadow blocking what seemed like the entire entrance to the alley.

"Maybe not God."

**P2**

"Hey, Nightwing...have you heard from Robin?"

Oracle adjusted the piece in her ear, rubbing the back of her hand against eyelids that now felt as if each weighed 40 pounds.

"No...why?"

He still sounded as if he was leaping rooftops, his breath separated and quicker than normal.

Tapping her pencil on the desk with a little more pressure than she intended, she winced as it broke in two, her breath escaping her in a long, worried sigh.

"He's not responding to my calls."

"I'll go check on him."

He sounded as though he was trying to reassure her...but somehow it wasn't working.

She sat there quietly as the communication went dead, her heart the only thing in the house she could audibly hear.

"He's okay."

**P3**

"What in God's name are you talking about?!"

He was angry, slightly confused, and in no mood to play games now, if ever.

The large man on the other end of the line smiled, curling his fingers through the phone cord with mild interest.

"Don't tell me you forgot our agreement."

His face fell with him as he lowered his body into the lush chair behind his desk, his fists balling.

"As I'd said then, and will say again, I want no part in your business. Do you have any idea how many problems men like you have already caused for me?!"

A chilling, low chuckle emitted from the other end,

"Come on now, Lex, you put yourself in this position. Besides, what do you have to lose? The public will thank you, not incarcerate you!"

Slamming his fist down ontop of his marble desk, he began to shout,

"Leave me OUT of your half witted schemes! If you-"

Lex wasn't normally one to be interrupted, but in this case, his words were lost within his throat.

"If I what? Tell the police what really happened to those ten scientists in your labs? How about lead Superman to that factory of yours in Arizona that's making illegal government designed weapons for the highest bidder?"

A bead of sweat began to build on his forehead, a knot in his throat so big, he almost couldn't swallow.

"None of those things can be proven."

Again he laughed at him,

"Oh no? I'm a business man, Luthor. I have my ways, just like you do."

He felt as though he'd be sick, his rage dulling down to a defeated desperation.

"What do you want from me?"

**Chapter 6**

**Part 2 - Switch**

Joker crawled away from them slowly, cradling his injuries gently as a wave of tears overwhelmed his senses. He wasn't sure why he was crying...it wasn't the pain, no, for some reason, pain like this felt more than familiar...it wasn't the awful things he'd done in the past that were all flooding back to him...

It was Jeannie.

Her smell, her face, her smile...all of it. For years he'd forgotten, but now...she was all he could think about.

Batman yanked the larger, muscular man up off of his feet and above his head, pulling his face only an inch or two from his. So far this man hadn't been responding well to his interrogation.

"Who?"

The criminal's eyes, at least the one that wasn't swollen shut, lit up with fear, his hands coming up to protect his broken and split face.

"I swear, I don't know the guy! I just got this call!"

His grip tightened,

"Where did he call you?"

He reached into his pocket slowly, pulling out a cell phone with a shaky hand.

"The number was private, I-"

Throwing him hard enough to collide with the wall a few feet away, Batman ignored the whimpering sounds he made as he crashed into the brick, tugging his hands above his head and handcuffing them to a water pipe. He should be fine there until the police arrive.

Flipping open the cell phone, he did a quick search of the last incoming entries, and as the thug had said, it was in fact a private caller. But there were ways to get around that.

Tucking the phone into his belt, he turned to face Joker, his body jerking and collapsing with pain as the crowbar that had been sitting on the floor of the rain soaked alley, now met the side of his face.

"Thanks for that, Bats!"

Trying to shake off the haze of blackness fighting it's way into the corners of his eyes, he stared up at the white faced clown, more surprised than he thought he'd be to see the return of the man he'd always known.

Joker was back.

**P2**

Nightwing slid into the window of the lab, avoiding turning on any of his flashlights in an attempt to remain concealed...but after running into three desks, and dropping a monitor on the ground with a loud, exploding pop, he figured...what the hell?

"Robin?"

Surprisingly there wasn't a single sound. All the noises he'd just made and not even so much as a guard to inspect the disturbance.

Rounding the desks, he flipped on the light switch near the door, the pit of his stomach cramping up.

Well...that was why the guards hadn't come...their bodies laid strewn on the floor of the lab, their blood splashed across the floor and computers in a way that Dick couldn't help but remember. Looked like swords.

"Oracle?"

Immediately she responded, her voice eager and worried,

"Did you find him?"

Lowering his eyes to the mess in front of him, he sighed,

"I guess that answers my question of if he'd answered you yet."

Probably shouldn't have said that,

"What? What is it? What did you find?"

Biting his tongue for a second, he stepped away from the death and back towards the windows.

"Signs of a struggle...a few dead guards...but no trace of Robin."

Over the link there's the sound of a rapid mechanical alert, Barb's voice suddenly shifting,

"Wait! His emergency beacon just went off."

Thank God, he thought, hating the feeling of desperation more than anything.

"Can you track it for me?"

"Done, it said that he's..."

Her voice trailed off into nothing.

Dick's smile faded,

"Where? Where is he?"

"That's odd. You're sure he..."

He wasn't sure he was understanding her.

Clearing his throat, he pressed his finger against the communicator in his mask,

"What is it?"

Brief silence, followed by,

"Right behind you."

**P3**

She stared at the blinking light on her screen, waiting for Dick to reply to her with an impatient, worried mother type attitude. She hated situations like this, and yet she, and the rest of them, put themselves in it every day.

We are seriously screwed up, she thought, running her hands through her hair.

"Find anything?"

"You said he's behind me, but I...wait, there's a closet."

Over the waves of the link the sound of a door opening echoed through, followed by the sound of yelling, and metal clashing against metal.

Feeling as if a thousand icicles were just implanted into her bloodstream, she caught her breath and screamed into the receiver,

"NIGHTWING!"

There was no response...

**Chapter 6**

**Part 3 - By A Hair...**

His back collided with the dingy wall behind him, a reverberating thud echoing through the hollow plaster that sent small sections of the ceiling to the floor.

Nightwing shook it off as quickly as he could manage, pulling his legs into his chest as the silhouetted figure swung their sword towards him.

Flipping onto his side and holding himself up with one hand on the ground, he pressed his foot into the tip of his attacker's blade, trapping it between his shoe, and the tile beneath it. Slamming his other heel into his nose, Nightwing gathered the blade with a small sigh, the ease of that win almost a disappointment to him as he straightened into an upright position and approached the assassin.

Kneeling down next to him, he tilted his head sideways a bit, focusing on the shine of the blade as he spun it around in his fingertips,

"So...are you going to tell me why you attacked me? Or am I gonna have to make you?"

Scoffing at him, the man attempted to get up, a firm grip on the back of his neck immediately stopping his ascent.

"Do you really think you can intimidate me?"

Squeezing hard enough to draw a small whimper from the man, Dick leaned in so closely to him that their faces nearly touched.

"Let's find out."

**P2**

As the haze from something that was no doubt a concussion slowly began to fade away, Batman finally lifted himself from the pavement, his gloved hand scraping across his mouth to wipe away a large amount of blood seeping from his lower lip.

Fighting the urge to strike something, Bruce silently cursed at himself for allowing Joker to remain unchained for so long. No matter what was happening to that madman, deep down he was still the psychotic killer that had crippled Barbara and killed hundreds.

Rubbing his head gingerly as the flashing in his eyes began to fade, he took a few moments to remember the license plate of the car Joker had taken, his memory working a little slower than it normally would.

"Oracle."

She sounded worried...tense...

"Yeah?"

Not having the time to deal with anything else, he went right to the point,

"I need you to check the registration on a plate for me..." Looking around for a moment, he sighed, "And tell Alfred I need transportation."

**P3**

For some time now he'd been struggling against his bonds, yanking as desperately as he could manage against the ropes, and attempting every last trick Bruce had ever taught him to get himself out of a situation like this...

Guess these guys knew how to tie a knot.

'Why does this sort of thing always happen to me?'

He thought, his head thudding back down onto the metal surface beneath him.

As far as he could tell, he'd been sitting in the trailer of a semi truck for nearly two hours now, the cuts and bruises scattered around his body signifying that they'd already traveled somewhere while he was unconscious, and unfortunately there was no telling where they were exactly at that moment.

Curling his body into the fetal position, he tucked his hands underneath his legs, and pulled them in front of his chest. That part of it was always easy, as was managing to wiggle the gag from his mouth just in case his communicators were still working.

"...Nightwing...Oracle...Batman?" With no response but that of air, Tim went back to struggling with his ropes, hoping that somehow he'd get himself free before those men returned for him.

**Chapter 6**

**Part 4 - I can't hear you...**

His body twitched and convulsed, dehydration, blood loss, exhaustion, and stress all playing a key factor in his current condition.

Ignoring the crimson red that was seeping through the bandages around his wrists, Joker pressed down on the accelerator, and turned the defroster on for the windshield he could hardly see through.

"Where are we going, Puddin?"

Harley draped her arms over the seat, her beaming face practically shining up at him from behind.

He adjusted the rearview mirror into a position that kept her out of sight, putting his eyes back on the road ahead with forced concentration.

'Harley's dead...I saw her...' He thought, roughly blinking a small blur that had been steadily clouding his vision for some time. 'She's not real.'

Her slender fingers danced through his green hair, running up the back of his head with a loving tenderness he remembered hitting the real Harley for.

"I saw some bushes back there, Mistah J...if ya catch my drift."

Joker had never been a man of patience or rational thought, these hallucinations tormenting him getting on every single nerve he had...saddling, and riding them until each one snapped.

"You're dead." He uttered, his eyes bulging with a rage he hadn't experienced in quite some time.

She laughed, twisting the curled ends of his hair in between her fingers,

"No I'm not!"

His face relaxed, and his body loosened, the silence shared between them for that brief moment eerie and unnatural.

Slowly a smile grew on either side of his lips, his neck craning just enough so he could stare at her,

"I can fix that."

Her face dropped in terror, his hands yanking the steering wheel as far to the right as he could manage.

They say when you live through a car accident, that you remember the events as if they'd been playing in slow motion the whole time. The sights, sounds and feelings all process differently, one at a time, and almost off track with one another.

The car's tires squealed on the pavement, the entire body jerking to the side and lifting off of the ground before going into a roll.

A trail of glass and metallic shards followed the car at least seventy feet, the ninth and final flip putting the vehicle on it's roof before everything was once again still.

**P2**

"That was easy enough." Nightwing pat the man's cheek, leaving him hanging on the wall with the sword he'd to used to try and kill him.

Struggling with the handcuffs around his wrists, he called after him,

"You're a fool! If you think this can hold me..."

Flashing red and white lights filled the room, the police cars pulling up one by one outside.

"No, but I bet they can."

**P3**

"Oracle, you there?"

Barb rolled up to the computer monitor quickly, her stomach resting in her throat.

Swallowing heavily, she pressed her index finger against her headset,

"Yeah, I'm here...did you find him?"

"The guy said we'd find Robin at the docks."

Her shoulders fell as she sighed, a smile once again taking over her expression.

Pulling up the docks, she checked the records for any shipments, employees, or possible underground meetings that could be going on there at the moment.

"Did he say who he works for?"

He takes a second to respond, Barb faintly hearing the conversation between him and a police officer.

"No. He doesn't know."

Sliding her fingers through her red hair, she massaged her scalp rhythmically, the attempt at ridding herself of a tension headache failing miserably.

"Of course not."

The engine of his bike fed through the receiver now, his voice changing slightly as he put on the helmet.

"I'm on my way there now...don't worry, I'll bring him back."

Frowning at her empty mug, she pushed away from her work desk and rolled herself towards the coffee maker in the corner of the room. Working this late into the night...well, morning...you've got to have something to get you through.

She'd only just gotten back to the monitors when her screens lit up, little red flags popping up near the East side of Gotham.

"So much for a coffee break."

Switching on the police frequency, her eyes widened.

"-ported accident, the witness said the license plate was 43J46L-"

Opening the line, she cleared her throat,

"Batman, this is Oracle."

The same familiar motorcycle noise accompanied his response. Alfred must have gotten him his bike.

"What is it?"

She double checked the address on the screen,

"I know where The Joker is."

**Chapter 6**

**Part Five - Cracked...**

Smoke and fumes filled the dark morning air, a small fire starting near the bottom of the car shining light across shadows that had surrounded them.

No longer hidden, the vehicle was now visible to the people around that had heard the accident, but not actually seen it. The police were now on their way.

Still strapped into the car by his seatbelt, Joker hung limply from his seat, the images and screaming around him gradually swirling back into something he could understand.

A man with a flashlight approached the wreck as slowly as he'd ever remembered walking.

"Uh...hello?"

Hearing a voice he was sure wasn't a hallucination, Joker forced his limbs to function, his body slamming into the roof of the car as he managed to get his seatbelt unlatched.

The man outside winced, fearing what kind of shape he might find this guy in.

"Are you...okay?"

Grumbling, Joker turned onto his stomach, and tucked the gun sitting on the floor into his lapel. He'd need that later.

Looking up at the person through his matted, and crusted hair, he cleared his throat and smirked.

"Do I look okay?"

Recoiling at the sight of not only who it was, but what he looked like, the man clumsily dropped his flashlight to the ground.

"N-no."

Coughing on the smoke filling the car, he gingerly shoved his hair from his face, and reached up and out the window towards the now terrified man.

"Wanna give me a hand, Tubby?"

Everything in his body screamed against it, told him to run, leave him there, no one would blame him...

But somehow he couldn't just go when someone was in need...even if that someone was The Joker.

"Y-yeah...sure."

Carefully, he took hold of his hands, and helped him from the car, even going as far as to support his weight while Joker shakily tried to stand.

"Thanks, Tubs."

"...Gary."

Pressing on the small of Joker's back until he could remain upright on his own, Gary began to back away.

Joker laughed weakly, his body swaying slightly as he began to walk in the other direction. Normally the desire to end this man's life would be far too great to ignore, but the time he was running on was borrowed already, and he knew he didn't have the strength to even lift the gun still in his pocket.

"Thanks, Gar."

Without even an ounce of common sense, the middle aged man spoke one more time, realizing only after that he should've taken his chace to leave when he had it.

"Where are you going?"

Joker froze, his heart racing in his ears as that voice caught up with him. No longer to him, was it the man that called himself Gary...

"No..."

He turned back the other way, facing who he believed was the image that had been haunting him all night long.

"Where are ya goin', Mistah J?"

Yanking out the pistol, he planted two clean shots into her forehead, the mist of blood following the body gently to the pavement it'd just collapsed onto.

"YOU'RE DEAD!!! I SAW YOU!!!"

The other people that had been gathering around had scattered back into their buildings, The Joker with a gun something they knew better than to get in the middle of. Though curtains from high above peeled back, eyes from darkness watching him in fear.

Crying now, Joker fell to his knees, the sirens bouncing off of the buildings not even registering in a brain that now, after all that he'd lived through, began to shut down.

"This body is mine..." He uttered, his hands falling numbly to his sides. With his vision blurring, and his other persona once again fading, Joker slumped down onto the street, blackness taking over.

**P2**

As the bike rolled to a stop, the tip of his foot pressed into the ground.

Staring at the scene with an emotionless gaze, Batman watched one pair of paramedics cart off a somewhat large body sealed off inside of a body bag, and the other...struggling to keep the man that did it alive.

Joker was in the hands of the police now. There was nothing else he could do.

Revving the engine, he turned the motorcycle around, and headed back towards the cave. Assuming he didn't have his schedule mixed again, he had a meeting in less than five hours, and the opportunity to get something he rarely does.

Sleep.

**P3**

"Oracle, you still awake?"

Barb, who'd nearly been asleep, lifted her head off of her arm, unable to see the large red mark she'd given herself.

Yawning, she ruffled her hair, and adjusted her glasses,

"Yeah, I'm here, Nightwing."

"You're not going to believe this."

She'd been hearing that a lot lately.

Sneering at the room temperature coffee in front of her, she pushed it aside,

"What is it?"

"I've got Robin."

She couldn't help but smile, that last small shred of fear she'd had in her throat vanishing.

Glaring at a smudge on her glasses, she pulled them off and began to clean them,

"Why is that unbelievable?"

She could vaguely hear Tim's voice in the background, he and Dick talking about something before he responded,

"There's no one here. The men that took him...left him."

**Chapter 6**

**Part 6 - Two Birds With One Stone**

"A distraction."

Tim folded his arms in front of his chest, his mask pinched firmly between his thumb and index finger.

Dick, who'd been kneeling next to Babs, forced himself into a standing position, ignoring the screaming ache coming from his muscles.

"Yeah, but who were they trying to distract?"

Tucking her arms into her body, Barbara shivered, the exhaustion she was feeling taking over her body and sending cold throughout the depths of her being.

"You?"

Tim shook his head, his mind already ticking with the answer. He'd made some sense of this puzzle, but some of the pieces were still needed before he could complete it.

"They wouldn't have known Nightwing was here. Dick only just arrived tonight. They weren't counting on you coming for me...they were hoping Bruce would."

"So why leave you there when they found out it was me instead? Why not come after us both?"

Without even knowing or intending on it, Dick found his hand resting on the back of Barb's neck, his immediate reaction being to pull away before she herself noticed.

He leaned back against the wall, making a small face as some of his bruises pressed up against it.

"None of this has been about us. They only needed our attention to be focused elsewhere to do what they've been trying to do since last night."

Barb, finally getting it, opened her mouth in slight shock,

"The Joker..."

Tim nodded, gesturing towards her computer monitors,

"Exactly. Someone knew we'd find out about that email which would lead us there. All they had to do was get to one of us, it didn't matter which one...but it didn't work. Bruce stayed with The Joker, and Dick was the one that came with me."

The wheels in Dick's head began to turn, his tired and nearly inactive mind buzzing to life.

"You said the police have Joker now...where are they taking him?"

"To the hospital."

There was something else...another thing she knew she should be remembering.

Tim pushed away from the wall, replacing the mask onto his face,

"One of us should keep an eye on him."

"No..." She whispered, the dilemma finally presenting itself to her. "He needs to be taken somewhere else."

"Less public?" With his mask also back on his face, Dick took a few steps towards the window before turning back around, "What about Bruce?"

"I'll worry about him, you just get The Joker out of that building...Harley Quinn is on the third floor of that exact same hospital. With the measures these people have taken, having both of them in that place puts everyone else there in danger."

Without another word, she spun around to face her screens, the two behind her slipping silently out the window and into the last remnants of night.

**P2**

He'd been sitting in his room for an hour and a half now, his eyes, while burning from an overwhelming desire for rest, seemed unable to seal for longer than the mere second it took to blink them.

Too much rolled around in his already busy mind, one of the last things Joker had said to him before he'd left him in his car sticking with him...bugging him.

'That's not my name, you know.'

He was certain it wasn't, but never before had he had such a desire to find out who he'd been before all of his destruction. If maybe once, he'd been a good person, and maybe...somewhere deep down still was.

"Master Bruce?"

Alfred poked his head into the master bedroom, making sure Bruce was still awake before pushing into the room.

Glancing at the clock that shone 4:59am, he turned his head back towards his old friend, smiling lightly,

"Up late, Alfred?"

"Actually, Sir, I've already slept." Gazing out the window, Bruce finally noticed the sun breaching the far side of the city. "Miss Gordon is on the telephone for you, Sir. She said it's rather important."

Looking up at him through reddened eyes, and dark circles, he nodded,

"Thank you, Alfred."

**P3**

One by one the doctor put the X-rays up onto the wall, leaning into the examine them carefully as the nurses whispered behind him.

"Do you mind, ladies? He's a patient, that's all."

But he wasn't just a patient. He was The Joker. And the whole floor couldn't stop buzzing about it...half of them requesting to go home before their shift ended just to get away from one, weak, and nearly dead man.

Ignoring the gossip, Dr. Talbet straightened his glasses, and let out a small,

"Hmm..."

"What is that, Doctor?"

They both could see it, their eyes focused on the same flaw...the same shadow.

"I can't say for sure, I'll have to do some more tests." Circling it with a marker, he pulled the X-ray from the wall and turned to face her, "Send him down to the third floor for a catscan, with a head injury like that, it could be a number of things."

"Yes, Doctor."

Waiting for him to leave the room, she pulled her lower lip into her mouth and began to gnaw on it. She wasn't sure why she cared, but she'd seen thousands of brain abnormalities like that, and they were never nothing. Until the doctor confirmed it, she wouldn't dare utter it aloud, but she was fairly certain of herself.

He had a brain tumor.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**Part One - Power of Attorney**

The doctor peeled back the pages of his chart, reading them silently for a few moments as the man he believed was still asleep, stared up at him.

"What's wrong with me?"

His body froze, and his joints seized, a little scare in the morning always a nice way to start a day. Sighing, he replaced his paled look of fear with that of a warm smile,

"Shoot, you scared the bejeezus out of me."

His eyes danced over the thick metal cuffs placed on the gauze wrapping his wrists, the small moment he'd had to feel normal again instantly disappearing.

"I'm sorry."

Shaking his head, the doctor replaced the folder into it's tray, and reached over towards a rolling stool across the room.

Pulling it right up beside him, Dr. Talbet took in a deep breath before making eye contact. He WAS just a patient, after all.

"Joker, my name is Dr. Talbet, and I'm head of the Neurology Center at Gotham General. What I'm going to tell you might not be easy for you to hear, but I'm going to need you to pay attention to what I'm saying, all right?" Waiting for a nod from his patient, Talbet pulled the glasses from his face and moistened his lips, news like this never being easy to share with any person. "Early this morning when you were brought in, we did a series of several standard tests...just to make sure everything was okay."

Swallowing deeply, he leaned his head back into his pillow and shut his eyes,

"So there is something."

Clearing his throat, he continued,

"In all of the cranial X-rays we've taken, we've found what appears to be a large mass in the lower left region of your brain. We believe it to be a Grade 1 brain tumor, which as far as this situation is concerned, is good thing. It means it's operable. We're not sure if this mass is benign or not, and that's something we probably won't know until we're able to get in there and remove the tumor. Removal of the cancer should clear up all of the symptoms you've been experiencing recently."

His eyes slowly opened, all of the saliva in his mouth suddenly spent,

"What symptoms?"

"Headaches, dizziness, loss of appetite..." He paused, the words clinging to his tongue as if desperately begging him to keep it to himself, "...and personality changes."

So that was it, then. It hadn't been fate or destiny that restored who he truly was...no...it had been an assemblage of cancerous tissues in his brain. A freak incident that soon enough...would be removed.

"Is there something I need to sign?"

Pushing back from his seat, the Doctor stood up, patting Joker gently on the arm,

"Your physician at Arkham has already taken the liberty of signing the necessary paperwork."

Of course. He'd nearly forgotten that someone of his mental status wouldn't be permitted to make his or her own medical decisions.

"Oh...okay."

Checking his watch, he made his way towards the door, pulling his glasses out of his pocket and sliding them back onto his face.

"Your surgery is scheduled for tomorrow morning, but in the meantime Police Commissioner Gordon would like to ask you a few questions, see if he can't shed some light onto what happened last night. If you need anything, the nurses station is right outside the door, and the call button is on the pad that controls the bed."

Lifting up his head, he felt the stinging bite of tears building in the corner of his eyes, a simple clearing of his throat pushing it aside.

"Doctor Talbet?"

Turning around again to face him, he pushed the glasses up completely on his face, and raised an interested eyebrow,

"Yes, Joker?"

Sitting up as best as he could manage with his hands cuffed to the railing, he propped his body on his elbows and bit his bottom lip out of a nervous frustration.

"When you remove it...will I...will he...?"

Lowering his eyes to the floor, the surgeon tucked his hands into his white coat,

"We don't know for sure...but there is a good chance, yes, that this anomaly will correct itself."

A single tear fell from his left eye, gliding down his cheek until soaked in by one of the bandages on his face. He nodded, laying back down,

"Right...okay."

"Try to get some rest, all right?"

As the man left him alone, a part of him broke down, all that was left in him that still resembled a human soul terrified of losing what he'd only so recently got back.

Himself.

**P2**

Jim stood outside of the hospital room door, a tape recorder with a six hour capacity, and a fresh pack of smokes at his disposal.

This man had put his daughter in a wheel chair, murdered his wife, killed countless people under his protection...and yet he was about to walk into his room and shoot the damn breeze with him. Already he needed a cigarette.

Inhaling deeply, he wrapped his brittle fingertips over the cold handle, the click of the latch ten times as loud as it normally would've been simply because of the dread welling inside of him.

This wasn't just any man. This was The Joker.

**P3**

"So why leave the kid?!"

He was furious, veins from every side of his temple popping up to the surface.

Sitting calmly and quietly behind his desk, the man chuckled, sliding his large fingers through his greased back hair.

"That, my friend, is a fight meant for a different day. And to be honest, it wasn't what you were hired for."

Gritting his teeth, the hired assassin released a large gust of air, his patience wearing thin,

"Your little game cost me one of my best men."

He leaned forward, the light above swaying slightly in the rumble of a near by train.

"Unless you want to renege on our deal, I suggest you shut up, and do the job you were paid for...in advance." Frowning, he looked down at the paperwork on his desk, the pent anger he'd been feeling during all of their failure putting nothing but stress on his already straining heart. "That clown has caused too many problems for me. I want him taken care of, do you understand me?" Sliding his hands into his jacket pockets, he intentionally allowed the glock in a holster at his side to be visible. "Someone will die tonight...I'd prefer it to be him."

Avoiding anymore confrontation, he nodded,

"I told you I'd take care of it, and I will."

"Then see to it."

The Joker had taken too many liberties with his city...with his business. His last escapade with The Bat wound up causing a loss too great for him to ignore. His nephew...his only nephew...had been cut down at the docks during a hailstorm of bullets from one of Joker's men. They'd been trying to kill Batman. They missed.

He didn't care what it took, The Joker would be dead by sunset.

**Chapter 7**

**Part Two - Once Upon A Time...**

Gordon looked at the pale man laying silently on his hospital bed...not the same man that had threatened him in his home with his own shotgun...this man was withdrawn, confused and above all else...sad.

"Morning." He uttered as he sat, not really sure what else to say, if anything, to break the ice.

"Hi."

His voice was nearly a whisper, his eyes cast down towards the brittle tan comforter the nurses had forced on him.

Jim pushed the glasses on his nose back up towards his eyes, his gaze landing on the off blue colour the man's hands were turning due to the over tightened handcuffs. Fear, no doubt, had caused the guards to restrain him like that...fear of the man several of them had spent years trying to force out of their nightmares.

"Would you like me to take those off?"

Joker's focus was on anything but the commissioner sitting in front of him, something almost solid and chunky lodging itself in his throat as he attempted to swallow.

"What?"

He pointed his pen towards the steel cuffs around his wrists as he pulled it out of his shirt pocket, a yellow pad of paper now resting on his lap.

"Those."

Clearing his throat once, then twice, he shook his head.

"No...I...I don't really trust myself." Pausing, he finally looked up at him, his expression clouded in the most sincere regret Jim had ever seen. "You shouldn't either."

After all this man had done, he would be damned before he would feel pity for him.

"I don't. I trust the glock on my side."

Something in him changed, his sadness fading only for a moment as a smile crept over his reddened lips.

"Hehehe...yeah...I remember. My knee still hurts when it snows...would've been more than my knee if I'd killed a baby too, am I right?"

Jim's face flared with a repressed anger, his hand quickly covering his brow as he collected his thoughts,

"Why don't we...get started?"

He blinked several times, the control he'd lost returning to him almost as instantly as it had been taken.

"Oh God...I'm sorry...I don't know why I said that."

Nodding, Jim tugged the tape recorder from his jacket, and set it by his feet,

"Yeah, we'll just leave those cuffs on you."

Joker bobbed his head once, his eyes already away from the commissioner's again.

"Right."

Pressing the record button, Jim continued what he'd come to do, no longer feeling in the mood for small talk with this madman.

"For the record, you have the right to an attorney-"

"I don't need one."

He said, taking in a long, deep breath before slowly exhaling. He could already tell this little visit was going to be an arduous one.

Furrowing his brow at him, Gordon ran his fingers over his mustache and around his mouth, feeling the inner frustration already building inside of him.

"Anything you say can and probably will be used against you-"

Just wanting to get this over with, Joker again interrupted him,

"I know my rights, Commissioner Gordon...I've heard them more times than I can count."

Narrowing his eyes at him, he ruffled his hair, and leaned back in his seat,

"Okay...so...do you want to tell me what happened last night at Arkham?"

Dancing his fingertips across the cold metal of the bars on his hospital bed, Joker mulled over that for a moment, his memories on the matter not completely clear.

"I..I'm not exactly sure. All I can remember is being in my cell...I was saying something to Pamela...then a buzzing sound...like a toy car, or one of those mechanical mice cats play with." He looked up at Jim, almost as if expecting him to be shaking his head with disgust or disbelief, but instead he found him to be listening. "I think there was a bear..."

Raising an eyebrow now, Jim held up his hand,

"A bear?"

He nodded twice, the small glimpses of his past flashing in his mind again,

"Yeah...but I don't really know."

He wrote something down on his pad of paper, thinking only briefly of his next question,

"Why were you at my home?"

This was an answer he suddenly knew he couldn't give,

"I...I really don't know why. I just remember thinking I was really sick, and that I needed a doctor...I'd heard about a Leslie Tompkins, a woman that had a clinic in Crime Alley...I thought any woman that would be crazy enough to have a clinic there, would be crazy enough to help The Joker..."

"And did she?" He asked, keeping his attention firmly planted on the man before him.

"She did what she could, I guess."

Recalling back on the situation, he began to feel uncomfortable, not wanting to get much further into this conversation.

Jim, not ready for this to be over, pressed him further,

"And then?"

He'd tried to kill himself...she wouldn't let him...that was all he could recall about it...that is until Batman arrived.

"I think I tried...to kill her."

Now that sounded more like the man he knew,

"Tried? So you were stopped?"

Tilting his head forward, he sighed again,

"Yeah...Batman came."

That was not at all surprising to him,

"And?"

Shifting around on his bed, Joker tugged lightly on his cuffs, not in an attempt to escape, but to briefly take his mind off of what was going on around him,

"I'm not sure. I woke up on an operating table...and he asked me some questions."

"What questions?"

He wasn't sure he was really interested in that, but he needed fuel to keep him talking, his will to cooperate seemingly breaking apart.

He didn't want to bring her up...he didn't want to talk about the one woman that had been plaguing his every waking thought,

"About what I was doing at your house, and what had happened at Arkham." It wasn't a total lie.

Batman slipped in through the window behind them, even in the daylight, his stealth skills excellent enough to manage sneaking in unnoticed. His voice startled not just Jim, but Joker as well.

"Thought you might like to see this." He stopped just beside Jim, resting a small video tape against his shoulder until he grabbed it.

Looking up at him, the old man lightly smiled,

"We were just talking about you."

The second he'd noticed him in the room, Joker had holed back up, his body nearly instinctively freezing up. With all the years of history he'd had with that man...his fear of him rested deeper than any memory loss could pave over.

"I think we were done."

Frowning, Jim reached for the recorder, and hit stop,

"I guess we were."

Getting up from his seat, Gordon and Batman headed into the corner of the room, their voices so hushed Joker couldn't have listened in if he'd been trying to.

He rested his head back onto his pillow, counting the stains in the ceiling one by one as the dulled ticking of the clock on the other side of the room overshadowed the echoes of their whispers.

"Hello."

A small nurse choked out, her eyes darting all over as she approached his bedside.

Another staff member that was afraid of him...he'd nearly gotten used to it,

"Hello." He muttered, his eyes stinging from exhaustion.

Picking up his chart, the woman faked a small smile, and read off a few things for him,

"August 1st…looks like tomorrow's your surgery date...bet you're nervous."

August 1st...why did that date sound familiar?

"You could say that."

She avoided touching him as she checked his IV, and his stats, her body stiff and jumpy as if she was ready to run at any second.

"Nothing to worry about, these doctors do this sort of thing all the time."

August 1st...

"Right...so I've been told."

She wasn't really sure why she was making small talk with him, but a part of her couldn't help it,

"Hmm, looks like some of your cuts are getting infected. I'll see what I can't do about getting you some penicillin."

He shook his head quickly,

"I'm allergic."

Wrinkling her eyebrows at him, she looked down at his chart,

"Are you sure?"

He wasn't sure why he was...but he was.

"Yeah."

Writing something down quickly on it, she smiled,

"I'll make sure to let your doctor know."

As she turned to leave, he called out to her, something inside of his gut tingling,

"Ma'am?"

She paused, almost unnerved by how polite this man was being to her,

"Yeah?"

Thinking over what was rolling around in his head, he finally spoke,

"You said today was August 1st...is that right?"

She nodded,

"Yeah, why?"

His stare was blank, his heart beating faster than it had for several hours...he was remembering...

"It's my birthday."

**P2**

"Witness protection."

Dick said through the communicator, his head throbbing and his body aching. He couldn't recall a night he needed sleep more than now.

"Witness protection? That's it?"

Barb sounded slightly annoyed, her mood no better than his.

He looked over at Tim, who was sleeping against his propped knee,

"Yeah, it was the best we could do on such short notice."

She waited a few seconds to respond, long enough for his eyes to start sagging downwards,

"I guess it'll have to do...but whoever's after him isn't going to let that stop them."

**P3**

"A brain tumor?!"

He laughed, patting his leg multiple times before allowing a large flow of air to finally enter his lungs.

His hired hand nodded once, his confusion on the humour of the situation showing,

"Yes, sir."

Smiling, he leaned back in his chair, and ran his fingers through his slicked back hair.

"Maybe I won't have to kill him after all."

Cocking an eyebrow, the small man shuffled in place,

"So...do you want me to call off your men?"

Suddenly losing his grin, he sliced off the end of a cigar and threw the tip at him, the brown section bouncing off of his forehead,

"No, you moron. Nothing's changed...that pasty freak will get what's coming to him."

**Chapter 7**

**Part Three, Remember When...?**

The room had gotten obscenely silent, all the eyes now on him...and once again, he felt extremely uncomfortable.

"Uh, happy birthday?" The nurse uttered, not really sure how to react to him.

Gnawing at his lip, Joker nodded his head once, avoiding any and all eye contact with everyone...especially the two in the corner. He wasn't even sure why there were still here, but he felt asking them to leave would be begging for trouble.

"Thanks."

The woman shuffled quickly from the room, the people around her never really men she thought she would have to or want to meet.

"Get some rest." All of the nurses said that, it was almost a reflex. He wouldn't be shocked if she didn't really care.

Jim narrowed his eyes at him, pulling the glasses from his face in one, slow motion.

"What did you say?"

His gaze flitted up, then back down, the adams apple on his throat rising and falling quickly.

"Um...I..."

Not even noticing Joker's head beginning to wobble from side to side, Jim began to approach him,

"You said it was your birthday..." Pausing, he put the glasses back onto his face. "Did you always know that?"

Shaking his head, he attempted to rub the dizziness from his eyes, immediately remembering the restraints,

"I...uh...no, not until just now..."

Bruce sucked in a little of his breath, something about all of this alerting.

"Jim." He said, his focus fixated on The Joker.

He'd never had a chance to sit down and talk about the past of this madman before. Not from the source. This could be his only chance to know who he was...how he worked.

"How much more do you remember?"

Batman took a step forward, reaching his arm out to his friend. Jim was too close to him...too close.

"Jim..."

Joker's head rolled back, falling forward with a rather sickening snap. His body was shaking now.

"I...I don't want him to hear." He didn't lift his head, only his eyebrows so he could stare at Batman.

The commissioner leaned in, and Batman dove for him, the smile appearing on The Joker's face a detail he hadn't noticed until he was already inches from him.

"JIM!"

His teeth sank into Gordon's neck, a large section of skin and muscle tearing from their place as the psychopathic clown jerked his head to the side, shaking the tissue he had around in his mouth like he was a dog.

"Oh God!" He screamed, holding his hand up to his neck with a horror stricken face. He hadn't seen it coming...he should've...'So stupid.', he thought, the room around him beginning to tilt.

Laughter.

So loud it beat against Batman's drums as though it had somehow taken form, and crawled within his skull.

The REAL Joker had returned.

**P2**

Oracle's head sagged over her chest, her eyes shut and her breath shallow. She'd been sleeping for nearly thirty minutes when the sound of her phone jerked her awake.

"Damn." She muttered, her eyes burning with the exhaustion she'd been holding back for hours now.

Rolling over to the telephone at her own pace, she gingerly reached for the receiver and placed it up against her ear.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Babs, it's me. I was doing a little homework while we were out, and you're never going to believe what I found..."

**P3**

The low, steady beeping of the heart monitors bounced off of the drywall of the hospital room, Harley's still form laying peacefully beneath the thin brown covers of her bed.

The doctor across the room inspected her chart for the third time, his face old and weathered.

He'd been working at this hospital for a long time, but never had he seen so many of Gotham's worst file in here. Normally Arkham Asylum had it's own ward for patients like these...but ever since that explosion, they've been left to deal with the mess.

Sighing, he pushed the glasses back up onto his nose, and replaced her chart on the end of her bed, leaving her room almost as silently as he'd entered it.

The respirator continued to pump air into her lungs, the IV dripping inaudible to the normal human ear, but insanely loud to those who listen for it. And that's all she could do...was listen to what was around her...

Her eyebrow crinkled, several of her fingers twitching with irritation.

"Uhhh." Her voice was almost silent, a whisper among all the technological machinery around her.

Slowly her eyes peeled open...she was awake.

**Chapter 7**

**Part Four, Too Close...**

Jim tried to wave off the rotund nurse with fresh gauze in her hand, a heavy sigh escaping through her lips as her irritation with him escalated.

"Look, you might be the big man down at the police station, but here, you're the patient, and you'll do what I tell you unless you want to bleed to death." They shared a heated look for a moment or two before his shoulders sagged in defeat, a triumphant smile etching across her face. "Now hold still."

He winced, the medical tape tearing at his skin one burning strip at a time. This woman had to be doing this on purpose, as he been in similar situations before, yet didn't recall the nurses ripping the flesh from his body, or pulling the tape in the opposite direction of his hair's growth.

She finished, patting him on the leg with a smile.

"There, that wasn't so bad, now was it?"

He stared at her without a word, his lips pressed firmly together in fear of saying something he honestly shouldn't. He was simply angry with himself, not her.

Well, mostly just himself.

What happened wasn't surprising to him in the least. Joker's reversion was expected...as was his ability and desire to manipulate and cause harm. Especially to someone that he feels connected to, or obstructed by in some way.

He knew all of that, and yet he allowed himself to become The Joker's prey. Another victim in the ever growing line of them...and what was worse was that it wasn't even the first time.

For as much as he would hate to admit it, a small part of him was and always had been honestly terrified of the psychotic bastard that had shot and crippled his child...the monster that had blankly murdered his wife.

Jim was scared half to death of what else he might have in store for his family somewhere down the line...

For who he was, and what he'd done...to Jim and to Gotham City, The Joker was always a creature of pure darkness, and unadulterated fear. Gordon had always hated everything that he was and what he stood for. He was the true essence of evil...and yet now...of all things...he pitied him.

Had The Joker really been a good man once?

**P2**

Batman waited in the darkened area of the hospital room, watching The Joker's eyes roll around beneath his lids as he continued to dream.

The nurses had given him an anesthetic just after he'd changed back, but that had been several hours ago.

The deep sleep he was in now hadn't been caused by drugs, or more commonly with him, a sharp blow to the head...no. This sleep was self sustained, and eerily peaceful considering.

Bruce had not strayed more than a few feet from The Joker's bedside since his attack on Jim earlier. He was thoroughly convinced that when he awoke, the madman would again try to use this opportunity to escape from captivity. He couldn't allow him to hurt anyone else...even if it meant waiting there throughout the night.

A chuckle from across the room broke his thoughts, the pale man smiling lightly in his sleep.

His deformed face brightened with momentary glee as something in his subconscious amused him...most likely more sick, twisted fantasies of the things he did better than most.

Corrupt, destroy, and murder people.

Regardless of who he could be, or who he had possibly been before all of this, Batman didn't trust him. And never would.

**P3**

"Being that it's a Luthor company, I'm not surprised." Barb said, the end of her pencil bouncing against her bottom lip as she let off a light smile.

"I think I might pay Lex a little visit. Here's hoping he's still awake."

With what Nightwing had found beneath the 'abandoned' warehouse, it was obvious that Luthor was involved in what was happening to The Joker and his companion Harley Quinn, but the question was still how exactly.

Checking the time, she laughed, rolling over to her mini kitchen to make some very strong coffee.

"You'll have to tell me all about his reaction to you after you get back in town."

"It's a promise." He said, his end of the line dropping into silence.

**Chapter 7**

**Part Five, Alone in the Dark...**

The plush curtains of his top floor master bedroom slowly tussled in the breeze coming from the balcony. The warm front that was blowing into Metropolis bringing the temperatures up to the high sixties, as promised. On nights like these, Lex enjoyed what those who lived in the city called, 'fresh air'.

Rolling over slowly, he pulled the satin covers up to his chest, stretching out his legs as far as they could reach in an attempt to rid himself of the aches he'd acquired from being on his feet most of the day. He was used to it, of course. The constant demand of his time and effort for billion dollar deals that only he could successfully close. It's what he'd always been best at.

It's what he loved.

He took in a deep breath, laying his arm over his eyes as the moonlight crept through the windows, outstretching it's glow all throughout his bedroom. Keeping him from falling back into the deep slumber he'd managed only hours before.

Again the curtains shifted against the wind, but this time...it somewhat alarmed him, his body going tense against the intrusion he felt. Something was different, though he couldn't exactly place what.

Sitting up, he searched the darkest corners of his surroundings, but could see nothing.

"Who's there?"

"You really shouldn't leave your window open." Came the voice from the shadows. "It's just begging for trouble."

**P2**

Jim stood on the sidewalk of the hospital, waiting for the cab that the receptionist had claimed she'd called for him over twenty minutes ago. He felt all right to drive, but she insisted that she wouldn't release him if he attempted to drive himself. Procedure, and what not.

Sighing, he pulled his glasses from his face, and wiped the small droplets vainly from his lenses. If there's one thing you can always count on in Gotham City, it's rain. The final kick to the gut after you've fallen flat on your face.

"Do you think he's telling the truth?" Gordon asked the shadows, reaching his hand up to his neck and holding it there for a moment or two. It didn't really hurt much anymore, but the thought of it alone made him feel sick to his stomach.

Batman emerged slowly from the alleyway behind him, his cape cocooned around his body.

"He can't stay here."

Raising an eyebrow at him, Jim slid his glasses back onto his face.

"What are you suggesting?"

He hesitated only for a moment, knowing full well that what he was about to ask for was out of Gordon's hands.

"The people responsible for what happened at the Asylum know where he is, Jim. It won't be long before they try again. I need to take him away from here...Before anyone else gets hurt."

Laughing slightly, the Commissioner ran his hands through his hair,

"You know I can't authorize something like that."

"I know." He said, retreating back into the darkness behind them.

**P3**

The linoleum floor froze her bare feet as she snuck up to his bedside, her brow crinkling in concern at the battered sight of her pale love.

'What have they done to you?' She thought as she brushed a bit of his green hair from his forehead. It had been some time since she'd seen him this bruised and battered, and it was never an easy thing for her to take in.

"Puddin'?" She cooed, leaning in slowly to brush her lips against his. To her surprise, the pressure was returned, a feeling of pure joy washing over her.

His green eyes fluttered open, blurred, and out of focus. The beautiful blonde before him filled his head with memories, things he'd nearly forgotten until this moment. Now that she'd returned to him.

"I love you." He whispered, his eyes welling up with tears.

Harley sucked in a deep gust of air, her heart skipping not just one beat, but two. All this time...she had told him again and again how much she loved him, and how she would always be there for him. But never, in all the years they'd spent together, had he said it back.

"Really?" She gasped.

He smiled, touching her hand gently.

"I've loved you since I met you, Jeannie. You're everything to me."


End file.
